Harry Gibbs
by SkylarProngsJr
Summary: The Dursleys decide that they want nothing to do with the freak left on their doorstep. They leave him at an orphanage in America where he is adopted by Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Can the magical world handle a Harry Potter that is smart, loyal, brave, and cunning, already knows several forms of magic, and has no intention of being walked over by anyone? He is going to do this his way.
1. Chapter 1

It is with my deepest regrets that I have to announce the fact that sadly I have no legal rights to either of these magnificent creations and all credit lies with their creators.

* * *

Harry Gibbs

Chapter One

Gibbs sat with an arm around his wife, bouncing his knee. Earlier that week, Shannon had fallen down the stairs and she has had a pain in her abdomen ever since. They had finally had someone to watch Kelly while they went to the hospital to get her checked out and were now awaiting the news. When the doctor walked in with a grave face, Gibbs' heart sunk.

"Mrs. Gibbs, I am sorry to tell you that you had a miscarriage." Shannon's hands shot to her mouth, tears forming in her eyes. "And I hate to be the one to tell bad news but you will not be able to bare an more children ." Gibbs tightened his arms around his wife as she buried her head in his chest. "I know that you are grieving, but if you were wanting to have more children, there is always adoption. There is this orphanage down the road that specifically deals with children under the age of 10. I would recommend going there. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to see to my next patient."

The marine held his wife as she sobbed, but his mind was going over what he had heard. Did they want to adopt? Sure, he would love to have more kids, but was Shannon ready? "Shan, do you want more children, even if they aren't ours?" After looking down at her tear streaked face, Gibbs smiled when he saw her eyes glistening with hope.

"Could we?" Shannon asked. He nodded.

"Why don't we go and pick up Kelly from the sitter and go and see that orphanage the doctor was talking about?"

1 Month Earlier

"Hurry up, Petunia, we need to get to dinner. Our boy is hungry. Oh, and bring the freak. We can drop him off later." A large mustached man wrestled an overweight baby into his carseat before yelling into the motel. "Why do we have to leave a letter anyway?" A tall, horse-faced women came out to the front yard, a black haired baby on her hip and a letter in her left hand.

"Because Vernon, he's 17 months old. They are going to look for his parents and we can't risk them tracing him back to us. I will not have the freak contaminating my Duddykins with his unnaturalness." Vernon snorted.

"Like they could trace him to us. We will be going back to Britain tomorrow morning. I must say, Pet, it was a fantastic idea to leave him in the states. Ingenious, really."

"Yes, I know. Well, let's get on with it."

Ms. Gloria Glandbags of Glandbags orphanage hated being woken up in the night by the door. Screaming children she was fine with, but what type of inconsiderate person stops by for a visit at 2 in the morning? All signs of anger vanished from her face when she saw what was on her steps. A small cardboard box lay on the mat, with a tuft of black hair just visible. She grabbed the child and brought it into the front room, before sitting the bundle on the couch in front of the fire. Searching through his blankets, she pulled out a letter.

This is Harry. He is 17 months old and his birthday is on July 31. His parents were murdered by terrorists when he was 15 months old and I do not feel safe with him around my family. He is a target and will be a danger to any family that for whatever reason decides to adopts him. Take care of the freak and I hope he doesn't cause you any trouble. I legally give up any all guardianship I had and I never want to see him again.

Hoping you are well.

Gloria had tears running down her face at the end of the note. To lose one's parents so young was a tragedy. And this women was completely vile! To think- she was startled from her thoughts by a sharp cry that rang through the room. Immediately she spun around and pulled the child, Harry, into her arms. She stared into his beautiful green eyes and melted. How could someone hate a baby so sweet? Now, in the light, Gloria could see that his hair was much more than just a messy black. Black, yes, but she could see streaks of red throughout his curly locks, making his bright green eyes really sparkle. Grabbing a bottle and pressing it to his lips, Gloria smiled.

"Well, Harry, I hope you like your new home."

Present Day (Two weeks after Shannon's doctor appointment)

"C'mon guys, hurry up!" Shannon laughed as she allowed her 7 year old daughter pull her up the stairs to the orphanage, her husband trailing behind, smiling. They were greeted at the front door by a slightly plump women with dark hair and kind eyes.

"Hello, I am of Glandbags orphanage. Are you looking to adopt today or later down the road?" After sharing a look with his wife, Gibbs nodded.

"Today, if possible." Smiling, the matron beckoned them in.

"Well, then right this was please. Now, are you wanting a boy or a girl? Younger or older?"

"I want a little brother, Daddy!" Kelly was bouncing on her feet, not seeming to be able to sit still.

"A boy. And under the age of 3, if possible." Shannon responded. smiled.

"Of course. Follow me, please." The older lady led them into a brightly colored room full of toddlers reading, running around, or playing with blocks. Kelly's eyes grew big and after a glance up at her parents, she ran across the room to a little boy that was bouncing a blue ball. Shannon folded her fingers into Gibbs', smiling up at him.

"Do you see anyone you like, or do you need more time?" Ms. Glandbags watched the slightly stunned couple as they looked around the room, pausing at each little face. Suddenly, a blue ball hit Gibbs' head, and he grabbed it out of the air. Shannon watched as a black haired little boy, who couldn't be more than 2, toddled up to the marine, reaching up for the ball. Smiling, Gibbs' placed it gently in his hands, bending down to run a hand through his hair. The little boy smiled brilliantly at him.

"Tank you!" He said, before running back over to Kelly and placing the large ball into her hands. Shannon stared after the little child. She noticed that his hair wasn't only black, it had streaks of red in it, making his big green eyes even prettier. She sucked in a breath.

" what is his name?"

"Harry. His name is Harry."

"Gibbs, he's the one." She looked up at him and noticed that he had been watching Harry, too.

"I know, Shan. I think so, too." He turned to the owner of the orphanage but frowned when she wasn't there. He saw her standing by a door to an office, beckoning them in. Once everyone was seated, she started talking.

"Now, are you two serious about adopting him?" At their nod she continued. "Then there is something that you should know, first." reached into her desk drawer pulled out an old envelope, pulled out an envelope and handed it to the couple. Gibbs sat shocked for several seconds before his mind started racing. Murdered, terrorists, potential target, abusive relatives? This was crazy. All _that_ happened to the sweet dark haired boy out there? Could the kid not catch a break? Glancing over at his wife, he noticed that he was just as confused as he was. He gave the letter back to the older women.

"Okay, does this mean that there is going to be more paperwork involved in adopting him?" ' face lit up.

"You mean you still want to adopt him?" Shannon looked at her incredulously.

"What do you mean, of course we want him! My husband is a marine, he can protect us. There was never a doubt that we want to adopt Harry." The matron let out a breath.  
"Thank goodness. You would not have any idea about how many couples have originally wanted that little boy, but backed off when they read that letter. I was beginning to think that he would never get adopted. Well, now that we've gotten that out of the way, if you would sign here, here, and here."

Two hours later Harry Sage joined the Gibbs family. Reaching the house they showed the newest addition his room that the adults had been working on for the past few weeks. The walls were green with trees and animals painted on them, while the ceiling was a dark blue with the night sky painted on it. Harry's crib, dresser, toy chest, and changing table were all white, and there was a light brown carpet on the floor. Later, all four of them spent hours at the park before going out to dinner. Harry and Kelly spent the entire meal laughing and giggling about who knows what, while the adults watched as the two bonded with a smile. That night, Gibbs fell asleep with a smile on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

Sadly, I own neither the world of Harry Potter or the NCIS show :(

 **ShadowWolfsFable** \- I really like that idea and I will take it into consideration and see if it works with what I already have written.

Thank you to everyone that reviewed, I really like hearing from you guys and do think about what you all say and want in the story.

* * *

Chapter Two

One year later - Harry is 2 ¾ and Kelly is 8

"Mommy, c'mon please! Harry and I really really want to watch a movie but this house has _nothing_ to watch! Why can't we go to the library to pick up a DVD?" Shannon sighed as she looked down at her children's hopeful faces.

"Guys, you know we aren't supposed to leave the house. There is a bad man looking for us, remember what Daddy said?"

"Always watch the watchers," The two chorused, well, at least Kelly said it marine-ish, Harry sort of slurred his words.

"Exactly. And if we leave then he will find out where we are."

"But we can be really quick! Kurt can even come with us!"

"Yeah Mummy! Pwease?" Looking over at their detail, who shrugged, Shannon nodded.

"Why is it that I can never beat you guys in an argument?" Harry smiled his toothy grin.

"Because Daddy taught us 'ow to win!" She laughed.

"Is that so, little man? Go get in the car, both of you." The two ran out the front door giggling.

Shannon turned up the radio as she listened to her children sing head shoulders knees and toes. Smiling she closed her eyes. If only Gibbs were here, he loves moments like these with the kids. Her eyes snapped open when she heard Kelly scream and the car lurched forward. The windows were splattered with blood, and she could see the specks of blood on their faces. Shannon tried to grab the wheel from the dead driver and steer onto the side of the road, but it was no use: they were going to crash. And they did. The car flipped into the air, the children screamed, and then there was silence.

Gibbs stared up at the doctor, not wanting to believe what he was hearing. He had just been in an explosion - had the gauze around his head to prove it - maybe that was affecting his ears.

"What?"  
"I'm sorry, Gunny. There's been an accident. Your family had been driving down the road when Kurt Mitchell, their guard, was shot in the head, killing him instantly. They crashed. It was bad, Gunny. Your wife and daughter died on impact." He sucked in a breath.

"And Harry? Is he okay?" God, let him be okay. He can't lose him too.

"He's in pretty bad shape, Gibbs. He's in the hospital. He has a couple of broken bones and some pretty deep cuts but they think that he will make it." Tears fell down the marine's face and he closed his eyes. His girls were gone, but his little boy was hanging on, all alone in a hospital, not knowing what happened. Gibbs stared at the doctor.

"I need to go home. **Now!** " The doctor nodded.

"We already have the next flight out booked. Your plane leaves in 45 minutes: make sure you're on it."

Gibbs walked up to the front desk. "Harry Gibbs' room number please. I'm his father." He must of looked quite a sight, still in his camo outfit, a slightly blood soaked bandage around his head and a duffle slung over his shoulder. He didn't care though. He had to find his son.

"Room 207, sir. First door on the left, you can't miss it." Nodding his thanks, he took off down the hall, pushing open the door. Harry was lying on a bed way to big for him with his arm in cast and sling. Picking up the clipboard at the bottom of the bed, Gibbs sat down in the chair to read his injuries. A broken arm, dislocated shoulder, and a broken collarbone, along with several now stitched up gashes along his chest, abdomen, and back.

Gibbs brushed his hand over his child's forehead, his fingertips stopping at his lighting bolt scar. He never liked that scar, it symbolized that Harry's life wasn't good before he was adopted. The marine ran his fingers through the little boy's silky hair, twirling the auburn and black locks between his fingers.

"Don't worry, Har. I will protect you. You're safe now, I promise." Harry's eyes fluttered open showing off their brilliant green.

"Daddy," he whispered.

"Sh, buddy, it's okay. I'm here now."

"Mommy? Kell?" Gibbs choked back the sob that wanted to escape.

"I'm sorry, kiddo. They had to go live with God." Harry frowned.

"They gonna come back?" Gibbs shook his head.

"No, Har. They can't come back. They didn't want to leave us, but they didn't have a choice. Everyone has to leave eventually."

"Oh." He frowned. "Daddy?"

"Mhhh?"

"Are you going to 'eave me to live with Mommy and Kell and God?" Gibbs wiped away the tears that leaked out of his son's eyes.

"No, Harry. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying right here next to you."

"I love you, Daddy."

"I love you too, bud."

"Will you sing Mommy's song for me?" Gibbs pushed down the emotion that was in his throat.

"Sure, kiddo." He took a deep breath and started to sing.

"What if I told you

I could lose you?

If I waited,

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow

May be too late

Birds fly above you

Love is around you

I would like to be too

Forever, forever and ever

With you

I would follow you

Anywhere you are going to

Tomorrow, forever, always

And if you were to

Sail across the ocean blue

I would like to sail with you

I'd follow, I'd follow, I'd follow

You home

I would follow you

Anywhere you are going to

Tomorrow, forever, always

I would follow you

Oh, anywhere you are going to

Tomorrow, forever,

Tomorrow, forever,

Tomorrow, forever, always" By the time Gibbs had finished singing, Harry was out like a light, breathing through a little puff of his mouth. He doubted that the 3 year old had heard his voice crack partway through the song, or if he did he didn't care. Watching his son's chest slowly rise and fall, Gibbs made a promise to himself that nothing was going to take his boy away from him. Harry would learn how to protect himself from larger opponents, multiple opponents, everyone.

One thing was for sure though. Gibbs couldn't be a marine anymore. He had to stay close to home most of the time now.

* * *

 **So I heard the song Gibbs sang when I saw looking through lullabies to try and find the perfect one. It's called Tomorrow by Rosie Thomas, and it is absolutely gorgeous so you all should go and listen to it.**

 **Reviews are welcome and make me very happy and inspire me to write. Criticism is wanted, but not if you're just going to be nasty about it.**

 **Love y'all**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sadly I own none of Harry Potter or NCIS. I decided to post this because I spent like the last 4 hours writing it because I couldn't sleep. It's my first really long chapter because it is based around an episode. I will probably rewrite most of the show's episodes but make Harry have a pretty significant role in them for the most part.**

 **So I know that Gibbs is supposed to be mentored under Franks, but I sort of skipped over that. And another thing I just realised. By skipping over that time, I have no idea on how to incorporate the whole thing between Jenny and Gibbs. Maybe the met before he and Shannon got married? I don't know and I really need your guys' help!**

* * *

Chapter Three

Gibbs ran a hand through his hair, staring at the man across from him. "NCIS? Are you sure that I would be able to work here? I mean, I do have Harry to look after." Thomas Morrow folded his hands and leaned forward.

"Gibbs, you need a job close to home, correct?" The former marine nodded. "Then take this one. You can have your own team, and your son can even spend days with you here when you aren't working on a case." The director slid a paper across the desk towards the other man and threw a pen over to him. "All you have to do is sign." An hour later, a smirking Gibbs left the office. While he had told the director that he had had a son, he'd never told him that he was only 2 years old. This would be fun.

* * *

Three Month Later

"Harry, get back here right now!" Loud laughter echoed through the basement as Gibbs chased his son around the room. Scooping him into his arms, the agent placed a kiss onto Harry's black locks. "And where did you think you are going with that, little man?" He plucked the sander out of the three year old's hands.

"I just wanted to hwelp you make the 'oat!" Harry said.

"You're too little, bud." Harry's his bottom lip poking out as if he was about to cry.

"Well, I'll tell you what. When you turn five, you can start helping me, okay?" The little boy's green eyes lit up and he wriggled in his father's arms, bouncing up and down. Gibbs laughed and placed the boy on his hip. "But right now, it is time for you to go to bed." Harry frowned but before he could say anything, the phone rang. He walks around the skeleton frame of his boat to the phone mounted on the side wall and answers it. "Yeah. Gibbs." His agent, Tony Dinozzo's, voice came through the phone.

"A Navy commander carrying the Football on Air Force One just carked in the air." Gibbs checks his watch.

"Where'd they land?"

"Wichita, Kansas. The President's transferring to the backup bird. I booked us on a 15:00 United flight out of Reagan, stops in Dallas before going on to Wichita. Whatcha gonna do with the squirt?" Gibbs sighed and looked down at the child in his arms.

"I'll see if Abby can watch him until we get back. The sitter can't be in until Monday so I guess he'll just have to stay in headquarters with us." He pulled on his jacket and started walking up the stairs, grabbing Harry's jacket on his way out of the house. "And really, Dinozzo? That's the best flight you could come up with?"

"It's a Saturday, Gibbs. Now, if we had a private jet-"

"We don't. Ducky's buds with coroners across the country. See if you can't get one of them to hold the body until we can get there." The ex-marine buckled his giggling son into his carseat.

"Alright. See y'all soon." Gibbs hung up. Looks like he was going to Kansas.

* * *

"Abs, thanks again for watching him." The forensic scientist took Harry out of Gibbs arms and sat him in her chair.

"No problem, my silver haired fox." The special agent glared at her and she raised her hands innocently. "But really. He's welcome down here anytime. He's so adorable!" Abby ruffled the kid's hair. Gibbs chuckled.

"Yes well, you've never tried to put him down for bed. Do you still have that futon down here?" She nodded. "Good. Well, in a couple hours he'll go out like a light, so if you could just put him down there. Make sure he has his animals," Gibbs pulled out three stuffed toys, a stag, wolf, and dog. "If he doesn't have these he will wake up in the middle of the night, usually with nightmares. If that happens, talk to him about it and comfort him until he goes back to sleep. Oh and-"

"Gibbs! He'll be fine! I used to babysit kids all the time when I was younger, I know how to do it. Now go or you'll miss your flight!" He smiled and kissed her forehead.

"I know. Let me just say good bye and I will be on my way." He kneeled in front of Harry and pulled him into his arms. "Be good for Abby now, you hear? I love you and I'll see you later, alright?" Harry nodded and gave him a slobbery kiss on the cheek.

"Bye-bye, Daddy! Luv you!" Gibbs smiled down at his little boy, taking in his camo pajamas and messy hair. He never knew if it would be the last time he saw his son when he went to work. He stood up and walked out of the lab.

"Thanks again, Abby! I owe you a Caf-Pow!" Abby laughed.

"You will owe me more than that by the time this day is over, Gibbs!" She called as he waved over his shoulder, before turning back to the boy spinning in her chair. "Alright, little man. What do you want to do tonight?"

* * *

Gibbs and Tony jump off an escalator behind a couple of flight attendants. The latter is weighed down with several bags, while the former just has one small bag and his ever-present cup of coffee.

"FBI, CIA, DEA, ATF, even NYPD have private jets." Tony whines.

"At 36 cents a mile. You wanna drive?"

"It's humiliating." They stop talking when they arrive at a Security checkpoint. Tony puts his bags down on the ground and Gibbs lays his single one on the conveyor belt. Gibbs turns to look at the security guard.

"We're LEOs." The guard smiles.

"Capricorn." Tony rolls his eyes.

"LEO, short for Law Enforcement Officer." He hands the Security Guard the paperwork for their weapons, while Gibbs shows him his badge.

"You new at this," He leans over to read Security Guard's name tag. "Dennis?" Dennis nods.

"First week." The senior agent chuffs a laugh while Dennis checks out the badge "N.C.I.S... never heard of it." Gibbs leans over and whispers to Tony.

"That's embarrassing."

"NCIS? Anything like "CSI"?

"Only if you're dyslexic." Tony said sarcastically.

"Okay. You can go ahead and go around the, uh, metal detector, but your bags have got to go through the scanner."

"Wait a minute, you're letting us take weapons aboard but you want to scan our bags?" Gibbs frowned. That couldn't possibly be safe.

"Well, you've got permits for the weapons but you don't for the bags." Dennis said nervously, shuffling on his feet. Tony starts piling the bags onto the conveyor belt.

"We really need our own jet."

"Dennis! Those bags are mine." The two agents whirl around to see Ducky walking towards them from the other side of the security gate. The guard smiles.

"Ohh! Why didn't you tell me you were subbing for the Doc? You've got a bag permit." Ducky stops in front of them.

"Move it, men." Gibbs looks over at Tony as they gather the bags to follow their medical examiner. Ducky turns and starts walking away, smirking. "We don't want to miss our flight."

* * *

Air Force One was currently surrounded by emergency vehicles, lit up on the tarmac only by the various flashing lights of the vehicles. Inside the plane is an assortment of official personnel, from Secret Service to FBI to State Troopers to Airport Security to the County Coroner's office. A Kansas local with a "CORONER" jacket on is stalling the proceedings.

"If J. Edgar Hoover was alive, I'd tell him what I'm telling you. This body is in Wichita County, and as County Coroner I have jurisdiction. No one moves it until the M.E. says they can." The coroner said.

"Your jurisdiction does not supersede the FBI on Air Force One." The FBI agent, Fornell, argued.

"It's _not_ Air Force One, Agent Fornell." A women dressed as a secret service agent walked forward and the people cleared a path for her. "When the President departed on the backup plane, _it_ became Air Force One. This is now Alpha Foxtrot 2900." Fornell rolled his eyes.

"Don't get into this pissing contest, Agent Todd. As you pointed out, the President's gone – it's no longer a Secret Service problem."

"Look. This could be a natural death, or it could be a botched attempt to murder the President. Until I know which, it's my problem." Agent Todd said placatingly.

"Uh, I don't give a damn which one of you is boss. You ain't moving this body until the M.E. says you can." The coroner crossed his arms and stare defiantly at the agents. Ducky walks onto the plane followed by Tony and Gibbs.

"You talking about me, Elmo?" The coroner, Elmo, noticeably relaxed.

"Ducky! How'd you like those steaks I air-expressed you?" Ducky smiled.

"Ah, delicious!" Fornell leaned over to the secret service women.

"He "air-expressed" him steaks?" Agent Todd shrugged.

"It's a big state. Look how long it took him to get here." She said. Elmo pointed out all of the players. "Uh, Agent Fornell here is FBI. Agent Kate Todd, Secret Service. Ducky, they've been fighting over this body like two hounds over a t-bone." Ducky chuckled.

"Well, it's our t-bone for the moment." Gibbs knew that if they were going to do anything with the body they had to get these agents out.

"All these LEOs are contaminating the potential crime scene." Dr. Mallard nodded.

"Oh yes, my assistant's right." Gibbs had to keep himself from snorting at the thought of him being an Me's assistant. "Everyone who boarded in Wichita will have to evacuate the plane."

"I'm not going anywhere." Fornell said.

"I flew in on it, I didn't board here." said Kate, folding her arms. Ducky sighed.

"Very well, you two can stay. But everyone else must deplane." Elmo clapped his hands together and began to usher everyone out.

"Alright, you heard the M.E., let's move it boys." Once the others were out, he turned back to the remaining people. "Ducky, what do you think?" Ducky leans over the body, examining it.

"No outward sign of trauma." Kate stepped up.

"He was stricken after having lunch with the President." Tony smiled.

"Yeah, how is the President?" She rolled her eyes.

"He's fine. His physician cleared him to fly on to L.A." Thoughts began to run through Gibbs' head. If someone could be poisoned on Air Force One, of all planes, than there was no way that Harry would be going on planes anytime soon.

"What happened?" Both Kate and Fornell look askance at Gibbs's softly-voiced question, but Gibbs just stares placidly at them. After a moment, Kate answers.

"When the Commander returned from lunch, he had an equilibrium problem and his grip was too weak to hold his briefcase."

"Did he gradually become ill, or was it sudden?" Ducky wondered.

"Sudden. He started to convulse and just collapsed. The President's physician believed that the Commander had a stroke?" Tony looks up from his notes.

"Kinda young for a brain fart. The only thing weirder than that would be if Harry just suddenly keeled over." Gibbs glared at him, shutting the younger agent up instantly, much to the confusion on Fornell and Kate.

"Looks like a natural death to me, Elmo. They can leave with the body as long as they sign releases." Ducky said.

"Why the hell didn't you say that?" Fornell said angrily after he rounded on the Coroner, who shrugged.

"Couldn't. Like I said, it's the M.E.'s decision. Release forms are in my car." Gibbs watches as turns to the secret service lady.

"Let's go. We can work out jurisdiction for Washington on the flight to Dallas." Kate glances at Gibbs before leaving. The look on her face is inscrutable. The coroner turns back.

"Ah, Ducky… about those soft-shell crabs?" Kate pauses behind Ducky and Elmo at this exchange, throwing another odd look Ducky's way. Gibbs can tell she's figuring out that things aren't exactly as they seem but she leaves after Fornell anyway.

"Ah, you'll have them by the weekend." Ducky replied.

"Ten-four, partner." Elmo said as he left the plane. Once alone, Ducky sighs in relief and Gibbs takes over command of the crime scene. Quietly.

"Tony, go hot. Show the pilot your credentials, get us the hell out of here." He ordered. Tony starts down an aisle, but Gibbs calls him back. "Hey!" He points upwards. "Cockpit's on the top deck.

"I knew that, Boss." Tony said cluelessly. Gibbs smirks as Tony climbs the stairs. The grey-haired agent crouched down beside the body.

"Enjoy playing my boss?" Ducky nodded.

"I did, rather." He sighed.

"What do you think happened, Duck?" The elderly medical examiner looks over at Gibbs shocked.

"Good God, Gibbs, I barely met the deceased!" Gibbs stood up, running his hand through his hair.

"I think DiNozzo's right. Naval aviator, stroking at his age?"

"He could have been born with an aneurysm. They're timebombs in the body. I remember this young promising basso-profundo in London. He was only 27 when he keeled over, in the middle on an Notaro aria—" Suddenly, Kate storms back onto the plane, her hand on her holstered weapon at her hip.

"Who the hell are you people?" She turns to Gibbs. "You're no M.E. assistant," she looks at Ducky, "and there's no soft-shell crab within a thousand miles." Ducky hung his head before staring up at Gibbs.

"Sorry." Gibbs pulled out his badge.

"NCIS. We flew down here from Washington to take over the investigation." He watches as Kate drops her hand from her weapon, seemingly exasperated.

"First the FBI tries to muscle in, and now NCIS." Gibbs shrugged.

"Yeah, well, I do believe this is a dead naval officer."

"Who died on Air Force One, after having lunch with the President it's _my_ job to protect." He bit his lip.

"Okay, we can share jurisdiction. You can be on my team." Kate frowned.

"Your team? Why should you head the investigation?" Gibbs took a step closer to her.

"You ever worked a crime scene, Agent Todd?"

"I am a Secret Service agent." He smirked.

"I thought not."

"Well don't dismiss me like that! Okay, I _earned_ my jock-strap.

"Yeah, does it ever give you that empty feeling?" She looked up at him, confused.

"What?"

"Your jock-strap."

"No. Like some species of frogs, I grow what I need." Kate smiled brightly. Gibbs smirks back, impressed and enjoying the exchange. Before he can respond, Tony interrupts, scrambling down the stairs.

"Gibbs! Pilot won't take off until the Secret Service chick gives us the…" He sees Kate and pauses. "...thumbs up." Now it's Kate's turn to smirk at Gibbs.

"I think that just made it my team." Gibbs shook his head, remembering a movie he had seen a while back.

"No. It means we'll just have to hijack Air Force One. Tony, escort Agent Todd off this aircraft and close the hatch." The secret service agent looked at him incredulously.

"You're not serious. Wait!" She chases after Gibbs as he walks up the stairs. "Okay, okay! Your team, but only because I don't want to delay us further by having to shoot you." She offers her hand to seal the deal, they shake on it. Perhaps, Gibbs thought, she won't be so bad.

Outside the plane, Fornell is running up the steps to the hatch when Tony suddenly appears in front of him.

"Damn-it, Agent Todd, let's get this show on the road!" Tony smiles down at him sheepishly.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry. We, uh, overbooked the flight." He closes the hatch, leaving a stunned FBI agent behind.

"What the hell are you doing?" As the plane starts to taxi away, Tony looks out a window and waves at the thwarted FBI agents. Fornell yells at the people on the ground.

"What's going on? Stop! Fornell and the two agents behind him run back down the now abandoned staircase to confront Elmo, the County Coroner guy. "Alright, do you know what the hell's going on?" The coroner shrugged.

"Guess Ducky decided to take the body to Washington." Fornell frowned.

"Why did your Medical Examiner take the body to Washington?" Elmo smirked.

"I never said he was _my_ Medical Examiner," he said, slyly. Then the jets kick into high gear, and everyone flinches from the blast of air.

"Then who the hell's Medical Examiner is he?!" Fornell says, throwing his hands up into the air.

"Ducky? He works for NCIS."

* * *

In the air, Gibbs is in the Comm. speaking with the NCIS Director, Tom Morrow, over video conference. "Did you have to literally slam the door in the FBI's face?" Tom asked. Gibbs shrugged.

"There were more of them than us."

"There's always more of them than us. You ever hear of interagency cooperation?" The director said wryly. He nodded.

"Yes, sir. I got the Secret Service Agent-in-Charge at Wichita to agree to share the investigation." Tom looks surprised.

"Willingly?"

"Well, we could use a little backup when we land at Andrews," said Gibbs, ruefully. The director shrugged.

"Eh, that's what I thought. We're spread a bit thin, we've got no agents, not even probies, unless you count your son," he said annoyed. Gibbs ignored that last comment and turned the conversation back to the case.

"If the FBI gets this body, we won't see an autopsy report until after they leak it to the Washington Post."

"Then make sure they don't get it." The director looks pointedly at the agent, who nods. "Will this Secret Service agent stand up to the FBI?"

"I don't know. She's got balls."

Kate is sitting in a nearby chair watching Ducky insert a thermometer into the body's liver. "Are you starting the autopsy?" she asked incredulously. The doctor looked up at her shocked.

"Goodness, no. I'm just taking his liver temperature to corroborate the time of death." Kate consults her PDA.

"The President's physician declared him dead at 20:32 Zulu."

"Well, it never hurts to double check." The thermometer beeps. Tony steps up beside Kate, pen and paper in hand.

"Excuse me, you'll need to stand clear so I can take measurements for my crime scene sketches, thanks." She looks at him bemused.

"Sketches? You've taken a dozen photos." Tony picks up a magazine, "Exotic Resorts", with a bikini-clad model on the cover.

"Tell me her measurements."

"You're pathetic." Kate said, rolling her eyes.

"No, I'm serious. Can you tell if she's (looks at magazine) 5'4" in a 35-C, or 5'7" in a 36-D? You can't, not from a photo. That's why we do sketches, take measurements." He pushes her back out of the way. "Thanks." Ducky frowns as he looks as the temperature from the thermometer.

"I've got 19:50 Zulu, that's nearly an hour earlier."

"Well, then you miscalculated." Gibbs comes jogging down the stairs.

"What's the problem?"

"There's apparently a discrepancy between my time of death and the President's physician's."

"Log yours." Ducky bends down to do so. "Enough sketches, Tony. Agent Todd's gonna give you a floor plan."

"Oh, no, she won't." Kate walks off to follow Gibbs. Ducky moves over to speak with Tony.

"I thought your photo analysis was brilliant, Tony. But wasn't 36D a bit of wishful thinking?" Tony looks at the magazine again.

"You think?"

Gibbs and Kate are meanwhile walking down an aisle, arguing. Well, Kate is.

"What can you tell me about Commander Trapp?" Kate jogged to keep up with him.

"I can't give him Air Force One floor plans, they're top secret."

"Come on, I saw this in a Harrison Ford movie." She scoffed.

"Well that's Hollywood speculation, you're asking for the real thing." Gibbs looked around a corner.

"Isn't the President's head down here someplace?"

"No."

"Now this was in the movie!" Gibbs looks around the conference room he just walked into and points at the the chair at the head of the table. "Yeah! Harrison was sitting right here." Kate tries to continue arguing with him.

"I can't risk those plans getting out on the Internet." The NCIS agent frowned.

"NCIS does not leak. These plans get out, you can shoot DiNozzo." Kate looks at him unamused.

"No, I think I'm destined to shoot you." Gibbs smiled, ignoring the slur against him.

"What about Commander Trapp?" Kate sighed and gave up trying to argue with him.

"Only met him this morning. He just received his Yankee White clearance and was Major Kerry's backup. The major has the flu." Gibbs walked away, still exploring the plane.

"We'll have to get a Navy doc to verify that."

"He's got it." She throws her hands up in frustration. "But go ahead, and waste a doctor's time double-checking like your… Ducky." Gibbs stops in front of cabinet, with a keypad lock on it.

"This is where the terrorists got their weapons in the movie." He starts to play with the keypad.

"Oh, that is as ridiculous as the President's "escape capsule"!"

"Anybody switch planes with the President?"

"The President was put on a separate plane. Everyone else boarded the backup except three stewards who were put in the Press cabin." Gibbs looked at her like she was crazy.

"What'd you keep them for?" He opened the curtains to Press cabin and waves at stewards. "To make coffee?"

"I may not know the finer points of investigating like sticking needles in liver or measuring swimsuit models, but I do know enough to hold the stewards who prepared and served the President's lunch." Kate said. Gibbs nodded his head, slightly impressed.

"Hmm, okay."

"You want to question––?" He shook his head.

"No, they're not going anywhere. We've got a crime scene to investigate. Rule number one, never let suspects stay together." Kate sighed exasperatedly.

"Well I didn't consider them suspects."

"Then why'd you hold them?" He passed her some latex gloves. "Put these on."

"Why? My fingerprints are already all over this aircraft."

"Rule number two, always wear gloves at a crime scene." Even Harry knew most of his rules already, and he was barely three! By this point, Gibbs has managed to steer them back to the crime scene area. Ducky is kneeling beside the body when they approach.

"I believe I know why there's a discrepancy in the time of death. Now since the Commander had lunch with the President, I'm sure the President's physician rushed to evaluate his condition. He also called Trapp's time of death."

"Yes, once he was sure the President wasn't in medical danger, he returned and…" She trailed off as she realized what he was getting at. "He was gone nearly an hour."

"Yes. I'm sure the autopsy will show that Commander Trapp expired almost immediately." Kate looked down.

"I owe you an apology, Doctor." Ducky chuckled.

"Oh, please, it's Ducky to my associates. I'm just relieved we straightened it out. It's inconsistencies like this to lead to conspiracy theories. It reminds me of a case once in New Orleans. A jealous husband shot his wife off a Mardi Gras float, right out of the clock at the corner of Bourbon Street." Gibbs sighed.

"Ah, doc, give it a rest. She's got work to do." Kate smiles at Ducky and gets up to follow Gibbs.

"I'll tell you the rest later!" Ducky calls after them as they leave.

"Rule number three, don't believe what you're told. Double-check."

"Should I write these rules in my Palm Pilot, or crochet them on pillows?" Gibbs nodded.

"Pillows. I'm sure my son would love to see them someday."

* * *

"Harry Sage Gibbs, get back here this instance or no chocolate tonight," Abby shouted into her seemingly empty. She smirked as a shocked voice screamed out no, and sure enough, seconds later, a small body barreled into her. She leaned down to pick him up, having to keep back her laughter as she took in his tears.

"Pwease, no, I pwomise to be good!" Harry buried his head in her neck as Abby sat down on the futon and he cuddled into her.

"Aw, it's okay, Har. You can still have your sweet, just don't tell Daddy, okay?" At his eager nod, she reached up and pulled a mug of hot chocolate off of her desk, holding it to his lips as he drank it. "Now, next time you run off without telling me, you won't get it, okay?" Harry nodded before blinking sleepily and leaning back into Abby. That is how the director found them when he came down into the lab a few minutes later. He saw Harry in her arms and sighed.

"How did I know that he would be here?" Abby scowled up at Thomas Morrow.

"Why do you have a problem with that?" He nodded.

"As a matter of fact, yes. Don't you have work to be doing?"

"Nope." At his unbelieving look, she sighed and pointed at her computers. "Really, I don't. The DNA and fingerprints for the other cases are still being processed and Gibbs hasn't gotten back to me about anything from Air Force One, so I can think of nothing I would want to do more than snuggle with a toddler." She laid Harry down on the futon and covered him up with a blanket, placing his animals in his arms before turning to stare her boss down. "Now, unless you needed me to run something for you, or are really so cruel as to kick out a 3 year old onto the streets after you called in his father on his weekend off, then can I show you to the door?" After pushing a flabbergasted director out of her lab, she sighed and leaned against the wall. Sometimes, she really hated that man.

* * *

Gibbs and Kate walk into another room. Tony is seated behind the desk, twisting the phone around in his hands. A television is playing in the background.

"Oh no, I draw the line at him sitting in the President's chair." Kate said, indicating Tony. The aforementioned agent looks at his boss.

"He's not using it."

"Gibbs!" Kate objected. Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"If you're finished taking pictures, Dinozzi, start bagging and tagging."

"Just waiting for you, boss." Tony jumps up from the chair.

"Bagging and tagging what?"

"Well, to start with…" Gibbs pointed at the lunch on the desk. "Everything. Was the President was sitting there?"

"Pretty good bet, since it is his desk." Kate said sarcastically. Tony passes Gibbs an evidence bag. Gibbs starts instructing Kate on proper investigative technique.

"Okay, to maintain the chain of custody, take the item – in this case, Commander Trapp's lunch – place it in the evidence bag." He does so, seals it, the folds it over to write on the label. "Seal it, record all pertinent information, initial across the seal." He then passes the filled evidence bag to Tony with a "Keep it cold" order, knowing that he would've otherwise forgotten to do so. Tony hands him a new evidence bag. Gibbs turns to Kate with it. "Okay, why don't you try it? Kate gets queasy, throws a hand up over her mouth, and runs out of the room. Gibbs follows with the evidence bag. "Oh, wait a minute! Hey, wait! Wait a minute! Whoa! Stop!" He corners her against the bathroom door, turns her around, and shoves the open evidence bag in her face. "In here, in here…" She vomits into the evidence bag. Gibbs seals and labels it.

"Can I rinse now that you've got your evidence?"

"Yeah, sure." Kate gives him a disgruntled look, opens the door to the bathroom and disappears inside. Gibbs finishes labelling the evidence bag then hands it to Tony.

"Log it. Go find Ducky." Tony looks slightly disgusted at the puke-filled bag.

"You think she's got whatever killed the commander?" Gibbs just shakes his head, having no answer. Tony leaves, Gibbs sits down and looks out a window at the clouds passing by, thoughts of his son occupying his mind.

Fornell sat in a small, corporate plane, holding his phone up to his ear. "If NCIS does the autopsy, they'll control the investigation. You want that?" Agent Baer's voice can be heard over the speaker.

"Commander Trapp was a Naval officer, they have every right to do the autopsy."

"Dammit, Bill, they're bush league. We have assets those cowboys can only salivate over!"

"Don't underestimate NCIS." Baer warned. Fornell scoffed.

"Oh, they're good, at making drug busts and catching sailors who've jumped ship. But an attack on the President?"

"The President's doctor thought that Commander Trapp had a stroke."

"Maybe he did, but if he was poisoned… You want to put the man's life in the hands of retread cops and ex-MPs?" Baer sighed.

"If you withhold so much as a comma out of the report…" he threatened.

"You'll get copies of everything before the ink dries." Fornell promised.

"I'll order Agent Todd to turn the body over to the FBI at Andrews, but I can't control NCIS."

"With us joined at the hip, all they can do is watch. And bitch." Fornell hangs up the phone. "We're back in the ballgame."

Ducky is examining Kate, who is lying stretched out on a couch. "Low temperature. I think it's a stomach virus."

"I know it is. Did you use that thermometer on cadavers?" The doctor laughs.

"Would you rather I use the liver probe?"

"Why you so sure it was the flu?" Gibbs asked from his seat. Kate sighs.

"It's the same symptoms Major Kerry had."

"Did you work together recently?" Ducky inquired.

"No." His eyebrows furrowed together.

"Well if you didn't work with him, then how…? Ah!" Ducky blushed as he answered his own question.

"Did you think I was a virgin?"

"I'd… hoped not." He replied, embarrassed. Ducky leaves and Kate chuckles. Gibbs just sits there watching her. She gets comfortable, staring back at him.

"You gonna lecture me about sleeping with people you work with?"

"Nope." She nods slowly. Gibbs keeps looking at her. Before anyone can say anything else, someone calls for Agent Todd over the intercom system.

"Agent Todd, Agent Baer's on a secure line for you." Kate sighs and slowly, painfully, sits up.

"You want me to take that call for you?" Gibbs asks. She laughed.

"I'd have to be dead." She leaves and Gibbs nods to himself, laughing. Meanwhile, Tony is sitting in an empty office using the desk to interview the flight crew.

"And how long have you been on Air Force One?"

"Five years, sir." The crewman replied. Gibbs walks in and heads straight for the bathroom, pulling his zipper down on the way. Tony wraps the interview up.

"Alright. Well, thank you very much, Chief Steward."

"Yes, sir." The steward leaves and Gibbs questions Tony from the bathroom.

"What'd you get?"

"Ah, food security's very tight. Incognito purchases, randomly selected stores. No one knows their buying for Air Force One." Tony replies. While Tony is talking and Gibbs is peeing, Ducky enters the room. Tony motions for him to be quiet, pointing at the bathroom, and grabs a camera. Ducky quickly snaps a picture of Tony sitting behind the desk, then they switch places so he can do the same for him. Tony is giving Gibbs a verbal report the whole time. Once done, they both retake their places and act as if nothing at all happened. "Stewards usually prepare all the food, but today the President had ribs and coleslaw flown in from a smokehouse in San Antonio. So they only reheated them and served them."

"Anybody else have ribs?"

"No." Ducky decided to make his presence known.

"Gibbs, if the ribs were poisoned, then how come the President wasn't affected?" Gibbs walked out of the bathroom.

"Maybe he's used to Papa Joe's barbecue. If you two are through taking pictures of each other, maybe we can move that body out. And next time you guys decide to mess around someone's desk, try to be a little quieter; Harry could have done a better job than you two." Gibbs leaves and Tony and Ducky look at each other shocked that they had gotten caught.

In the Comm., Kate is arguing with her boss over the phone and losing.

"Agent Todd, _shut up and listen_. I'm giving you a direct order. That's our aircraft, everything living and dead on board is under Secret Service control. Turn the body over to the FBI at Andrews, or the only presidential detail you'll get will be walking Spotty." Agent Baer hangs up on her and she forcefully puts the phone down, releasing a huff of frustration. The motorcade pulls away. Kate walks back downstairs to the crime scene, but the only one there is Gibbs. Not even the corpse.

"Where's the body?" She asked.

"I don't know." Gibbs replied innocently. They both laugh, knowing he's lying through his teeth.

"You move it to the off-ramp for a fast getaway?" Kate inquires. Gibbs just grins and drinks his coffee. Kate puts on her coat and takes her own seat as the plane is coming in for a landing. "It won't work, Gibbs. I've been ordered to turn the body over to the FBI at Andrews."

"You could stall them until we get off." He offered, making her sigh.

"No, I can't. I won't defy a direct order. I'm sorry, Gibbs."

"Never say you're sorry." He laughed, remembering their earlier conversation. "Ah, you don't have to crochet that one." Kate smiles, but Kate can tell that she'd not happy with the situation. Then the Captain's voice comes over the comm.

"We are coming in for a landing, please fasten your seat belts and turn off all electronics."

 **Later in Agent Fornell's car**

"Why'd you let NCIS have the evidence they bagged on the plane?" The driver asked. Fornell chuckled.

"Since we have the body we control the investigation. If a few ribs and coleslaw saves some face, what's it hurt? If the food was poisoned the President would—" Suddenly, a cell phone rings. Both FBI agents look around. The driver checks his cell to be sure.

"Not mine, sir." The phone rings again. Fornell checks his cell as well.

"Not mine, either."

"Hello?" Both agents look back at the body bag where the voice came from. Tony is inside it, with his cell phone pressed to his ear.

"We're in the clear, you can get out of the body bag." Gibbs' voice can be heard coming from the phone. The FBI SUV slams to halt in the middle of the road, forcing a driver behind them to serve. Car horns honk. Tony grimaced.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm not sure I want to." Elsewhere, a white van is driving down another road. Gibbs and Ducky are in the back with the real body of Cmdr. Trapp.

"Fine. You've got to search Commander Trapp's apartment tonight." Dinozzo groans.

"Oh, Gibbs, come on! It's 1:00am."

"Agent Axle is trailing you to pick up the body bag when the FBI tosses it." Tony laughs.

"That's funny, Gibbs, real funny. Especially since— Aaahhh!" Tony trails off as the body bag containing him is dumped out onto the road. Gibbs just calmly hangs up and turns back to look at Ducky.

"I guess they found him," he said, smirking.

* * *

Abby ran around her lab, processing the clothes Commander Trapp had been wearing when Tony came in carrying a box.

"Abby?" He calls.

"Yeah?" She replies quietly.

"Find anything on his uniform?" She sighs.

"Not yet." Tony smiled.

"Well, I think I found how he was poisoned." He takes the box of evidence bags and starts laying them out on the countertop. Abby follows him. "This guy had enough vitamins, herbs, and organic food to open his own health market. _If_ he was poisoned, I think you'll find it laced into one of these."

"So what are you gonna do while I'm finding poison in a health snack?" Tony yawned.

"I'll wait." She laughed.

"Normally, I would allow you to crash on my futon, but I'm not at all sorry to inform you that it is already taken." They turn to look over to the corner where the futon is laid out. Fast asleep with his thumb stuck in his mouth was Harry, his three toys tucked under his arm. "You would not believe the amount of adorable pictures I have gotten tonight."

"Yes well, all I really want right now is to catch some shut eye." Abby laughs and nods to a cabinet.

"Blankets and pillows are in the third drawer and you are just going to have to make due with the floor." Tony sighed happily.

"Bless you." He said, pulling out the covers.

"What are you, my priest?" He looks up at Abby.

"Curse you?' She laughs and Tony lays down to take a nap under a table.

* * *

Gibbs calls after Agent Todd as she is leaving the briefing and hands her a piece of gum. "Kate. When's the President returning?"

"Uh, tomorrow. Noon. I'm flying back tonight to rejoin the detail."

"Mind if I tag along?" Kate waffles.

"Please?" Gibbs asks childishly. Kate smiles smugly.

"You can. Your Sig Sauer can't. We have a rule: no weapons on Air Force One unless they're Secret Service." Kate pops the gum in her mouth. Gibbs shrugs and takes off his sidearm, tucking it away in a drawer. He puts on his coat and follows Kate out.

"Keep looking." He says to Ducky and Abby as he passes them. Abby looks amused.

"Wow. Gibbs said "please".

* * *

 **On the Air Force One**

"Good to see you again, Major." The president says to Baer. "Always good to see ya. Folks, that was a job well done.

"Thank you, sir." Baer replies.

"What do you say we head home?" Baer nods.

"Absolutely."

"Alright. I agree." The president said. Kate walks up to Agent Baer.

"Sir? I'm surprised that you didn't object to Agent Gibbs riding with us?"

"He's here because his gut is still churning, isn't it?" Kate frowned.

"Yes, sir. I suppose you could put it that way."

"Well so is mine." Kate nods, equally as concerned, as she watches Baer walk off after the President. Air Force One takes off, once more.

"Annie." Baer says. A tall blonde women with a notebook stands up.

"Yes?"

"The President's ready to see you." Annie follows Baer out of the Press cabin, past where Gibbs and Kate are seated. Gibbs gets up to watch them curiously.

"Where they going?" Kate barely looks up.

"The President promised ten minutes to each member of the Press on board. Since we kicked them off at Wichita, he's playing catch up."

"Three years before 9/11, Clancy wrote a book where a terrorist hijacked a commercial jetliner and crashed it into the Capital." He looks into the press cabin. "In the Harrison Ford movie, the terrorists were reporters." Kate sighs.

"Gibbs, everyone on board has been vetted by us for years. Except you.

"In the film, the terrorists got their credentials from a Secret Service turncoat." Gibbs walks away. Kate sighs. A man from the Press cabin walks up beside her and watches him leave.

"Loosening up your dress code, Kate?" The man asks.

"He's not one of us.

"We all gonna get our fifteen minutes of fame?" Kate shuffles him back to his seat.

"It's ten, Leonard, and the President's doing his best."

* * *

 **Several Hours Later**

A journalist starts going into convulsions and drops to the floor. Secret Service agents rush to his side.

"Medical emergency, Press cabin." Agent Baer leaves from escorting Leonard to race to the Press cabin. Leonard ambles along behind him. The same three medics from before come running.

"Captain, is this the same thing Trapp had?"

"It appears to be." A female medic checks respiration.

"He's not breathing."

"Start CPR."

"Do something!" Baer cries.

Leonard, meanwhile, walks over to the cabinet Gibbs had remarked on before when comparing the plane with the movie. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the key to unlock the cabinet. Inside are weapons, and he arms himself with an automatic.

In the bathroom Gibbs had pushed them into, Gibbs and Kate start to figure some things out.

"You said the locks were different." He said. Kate nodded.

"29 has digital ones, this one has keys." Gibbs' eyes light up in realization.

"Armoury, the armoury. They have keys to the armoury. They copied the movie. They've vetted a reporter." Kate frowned.

"That would take years." She puts her earwig back in.

"So did setting up 9/11." Gibbs retorted. As they exit the washroom, Leonard sees them and ducks down side corridor before they can see him. Kate listens to the intercom chatter.

"There's a medical emergency in the Press cabin." She said. Gibbs shook his head.

"It's a diversion. Cover the President." They split up. Gibbs goes back toward the Press cabin, Kate to the President. She draws her weapon as she approaches. She looks at the ball carrier.

"Nobody gets past you." The Marine Football carrier plants himself in the middle of the aisle, a determined blockade. Leonard waits until Gibbs has passed by before going back out into the aisle. Gibbs makes his way to the armoury and grabs a handgun. Leonard approaches the Marine guarding the hall, who moves to intercept him.

"Sir, stop right there. Stop right there, sir!" Leonard pretends to look confused.

"What's happened?"

"Freeze!"Gibbs is now behind Leonard, pointing his gun at him. Leonard halts. "Get your hands in the air." He slowly spins around.

"Sure. Someone yelled for a doctor." As Leonard turns, he starts firing the automatic on an arc toward Gibbs. The only thing going on in Gibbs' head is Harry. Memories of chasing him around the yard, tucking him at night, giving him kisses, and most importantly, his little boy's laugh. The way his green eyes light up when he smiles. Gibbs wonders what would happen to him if he were to die today. As the bullets ricochet around him, Gibbs does not flinch, but fires once into Leonard's chest. Leonard falls onto his butt, alive and no longer firing, but still with his finger on the trigger of the automatic. Gibbs shoots him twice more in the chest and head. Leonard keels over, dead. Kate and everyone else shows up to see what happened. Gibbs walks past the body up to Kate and hands her his appropriated weapon with a smirk.

 **Later outside Air Force One in a parking lot.**

"I'm gonna be doing paperwork for a week." Groans Baer. Gibbs laughs.

"Oh yeah, me too."

"Agent Todd told me about her and Major Kerry when she tendered her resignation."

"Are you accepting?" The NCIS agent asks.

"Of course, she broke the rules." Baer holds out his hand for Gibbs to shake. "Well, thank you, Special Agent Gibbs."

"No sir, thank you." Gibbs smiles. Kate is seen walking despondently away from the plans. Gibbs comes running up to her.

"I heard you quit, Agent Todd." She nods.

"Happy news gets around , I resigned. It was the right thing to do."

"Yup. Pull that crap at NCIS, I won't give you a chance to resign." She looks at him shocked.

"Is that a job offer?" He doesn't reply, just winks at her before climbing into a cab and yelling over his shoulder to be at headquarters in no less than three hours.

Kate leaned back in her chair stunned. She surveyed her new workplace. In less than 5 hours she had protected the president from an assassination attempt, been fired from Secret Services, and got a new job as a special agent for NCIS; if that wasn't crazy she didn't know what was. She looked across the cubicle to the man sitting at his desk in front of her.

"Hey Dinozzo." He didn't look up from his stack of paperwork.

"Hmmm." She propped her elbows onto her desk and rested her head in the palm of her hands.

"What makes Gibbs tick?" Tony looked up at her shocked before pushing out from under his desk and walking over to sit on the corner of hers.

"Well, now that's any easy question. You want to know what pushes Gibbs everyday? What he lives for?"

"Yeah, I do."

"That little boy over there." Tony nodded towards the elevator. Kate watched as Abby stepped out with a young black-haired boy in her arms. The toddler jumped out her hold and ran as fast as his legs could carry him up the stairs, right into Gibbs, who swung him around the air before pulling him into a tight hug. She listened as the kid laughed and told his Daddy all about his day.

Maybe there was more to Gibbs that she had originally thought.

* * *

 **Thank you to everyone that reviewed my last chapter - I would personally thank everyone, but to be honest I am about to pass out at my computer.**

 **Please read and review - Helpful criticism is appreciated.**

 **I love each and every one of you guys and can't tell you how much it mans to me that you are taking the time to read my stories.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Shadow Wolf -** Yes Harry will : )

 **BlackWidowAndCapRule -** Thanks for that idea, I might just use it.

 **CauldronCalamity -** That's what I originally thought of doing, but do you see Gibbs dating someone just a few months after his wife and daughter die?

 **Outofthisworldgal -** I know right? It just seemed like an adorable scene and I had to put it (at least a mention of it) into the story

 **jk** \- I completely screwed the timeline because I wanted Harry to be little Harry in this story.

 **Beth5572** **-** Aww, thank you so much! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

 **Gracealma** **-** When you say flush out my characters, do you mean you want more characters, or my characters need more 'originality'?

 **Rebmul** **-** I played around with the idea of saving Kate, but to be honest, I just love Ziva, and ever since I started this story, I imagined Ziva going all over protective of Harry, and teaching him languages and how to protect himself/throw knives/kill people with paper clips. So I'm sad to say that Kate will have to die.

 **Skuld Odinsdottir** \- like I told jk, I really screwed up the timeline. I wanted Harry to live with Kelly and Shannon for at least a little while, but when I started writing my story, I forgot that Gibbs trained under Franks for several years. So, right now the time line is this;

 _ **December 19 - The Gibb's adopt Harry**_

 _ **February 28 (A year and a half later) - Kelly and Shannon are killed.**_

 _ **September 23 - Yankee White happens.**_

 _ **November 7 - Bete Noire happens.**_

I haven't figured out if Harry is going to Hogwarts the same year he did in the book, or am I going to screw up the timeline even more… thoughts?

Thanks to everyone else who reviewed, if I could meet you right now and give you a big thankyou hug, I would!

I own neither the NCIS show or the Harry Potter Franchise, I just enjoy playing around with what their wonderful creators gave us!

* * *

Chapter Four

"I'm sure that Harry will be perfectly fine with the sitter tonight." Gibbs sighed, knowing that the doctor was right.

"I know Duck, it's just, this is the first time that he's spent the night with her. Usually I've been home in time to put him down. He's been having nightmares recently and I'm worried that they'll come back."

"Gibbs, she knows what she is doing, okay? She's highly recommended and has babysat several kids at once - she can deal with one. Now, I have to go and prep a body for autopsy, so if you'll excuse us." Ducky grabbed his assistant, Gerald, by the arm, and pulled him into the elevator. "That man worries more than my mother. I'm pretty certain that his boy is smarter than all of us; he'll be fine."

* * *

"He's not an American Naval Officer?" Ducky said, stepping into autopsy.

"They said he was a Royal Navy Commander." Gerald replied, pulling on his gloves. The senior M.E. frowned.

"Well, which Royal Navy, Gerald? There are several of them."

"I assume British, Doc."

"The Swedes, the Norwegians, Aussies, Kiwis, Saudis… they all have Royal Navies." said.

"Well, the EMT only said that the Embassy told them to bring him to NCIS for autopsy." Ducky swung around to face his assistant.

"Which Embassy?" Gerald looked over his clipboard.

"Israeli."

"Israeli?" The younger man shrugged.

"That's what they said."

"Hmm. Why on earth would the Israeli Embassy send us a foreign naval officer?" Gerald picked up the bag and laid it on the table.

"Well that's what I asked the EMT that delivered the body, but they didn't know either."

"He calls me down here in the middle of the night, doesn't know which Navy. Gerald, what does this look like?" Gerald smiled sheepishly.

"Uh… one of my gloves."

"What's it doing in my drawer?" Gerald raised his hands apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Doc, I must have put your gloves in my drawer. I'll get it." Ducky waved him away.

No, I'll do it. Ah, Gerald, unzip that body bag and find out with which Navy our guest sailed." He unzipped the bag and froze. "Don't recognize the uniform. I'm not surprised. The Royal Navies of the world wear almost identical uniforms. In fact, during World War Two, British Naval Officers whose ships went down in the channel, passed themselves off in Antwerp as German submariners who…" Ducky trailed off when he realized that the body they were supposed to be 'dissecting' wasn't dead and currently had a gun pointed at their heads. "...good god."

" Shut off the lights…. and return." The man said, pushing himself to his feet and keeping the weapon leveled at them. "Is the video camera on?" Ducky and Gerald glanced at the camera in the corner and the terrorist whirled around and shot it, breaking the camera into pieces. Gerald dropped his head.  
"Sorry, Doc."

"That's all right, Gerald. I looked at it too." The man pointed the gun back at Gerald.

"How do you alert visitors when conducting infectious autopsy?"

"We hang a decomposing body in the corridor," said Ducky sarcastically. Their captor smiled, tilting his head.

"A sense of humor under duress – that's an admirable quality, Doctor. However, when I ask a question, I want a truthful and immediate answer. So each time you lie, or I suspect you lie, I will put a nine millimeter, hollowpoint slug into one of your assistant's ball and socket joints. If you doubt me, I can demonstrate." The doctor shook his head.

"That won't be necessary. May I make a request?"

"You would rather I put the slug in you?"

"Yes."

"I can't oblige. How do you alert people to infectious autopsies?" Ducky pointed to a button on the wall.

"A lit red sign in the corridor."

"Gerald, the sign, please. Just a moment. Also lock the doors and bring me a set of greens and breathing gear." Gerald pushed the button and grabbed the gear, bringing them back to their captor.

"What is it you want?" Ducky said, stepping a half-step forward.

"In due time, Doctor…?"

"Mallard." As the dark clothed man compared his name to that of steam locomotive, ways to alert Gibbs to the situation filled the doctor's head. He just hoped that someone was able to keep him from bursting down here.

* * *

"You never had a nightmare?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Uh-uh." Kate replied, shaking her head.

"Not even as a kid?"

"Nope. No fear of the dark or a boogie man in my closet."

"Me either. But the vampire on the canopy of my bed freaked me." Kate laughed.

"You had a canopy bed?" Tony glared at her.

"I was five. My mother was into Louis the Fifteenth. It wasn't my call, Kate."

"Does she still frighten you?"

"My mother?" She rolled her eyes.

"The vampire."

"What makes you think it was a "she?" " Kate looked at him pointedly.

"Vampires are seducers. Knowing you, Tony, it had to be female."

"Well, she was after my blood, not the pride of my childhood." Tony said slightly smugly.

"You were proud at five?"

"Harry's pretty proud, and he's only four!." Kate snorted.

"Yes, but the difference between the two of you is that Harry isn't arrogant; you are."

"She finished the story, tucked me in, blew out the candles. My mother thought that candlelight enhanced the trompe l'oeil." Kate snickered.

"Canopy beds, trompe l'oeil, flickering candles." She counted on her fingers. "No wonder your bête noir was a vampire."

"Bete noir. Cute."

"It goes with the Louis the Fifteenth bedroom. So… what would happen?" Tony rolled his eyes.

"Forget it." Gibbs walked in.

"Forget what?"

"Oh, Tony's bete noir."

"Ah, it's French for um…" Gibbs looked into his desk drawer, staring at the single picture in it, a picture of Harry as he blew out his candles on his third birthday cake.

"Nightmare." He finished. Gibbs thoughts drifted to the last few nights, where Harry had woken up screaming, crying about a green light, and a 'bad sounding voice' that said 'mean things to him.' He had been inconsolable and hadn't gone back to sleep for the rest of the night, which means he would take an even longer nap than usual during the day, resulting in another nightmare. He sighed before turning back to his agents who looked at him concerned. He glared at them, but they could see that his usual annoyance was clouded with worry. "You're mother taught you french. Did your father teach you how to report?" Tony grinned.

"Oh, yeah. During cocktail hour, while I was pouring his Macallan eighteen – three fingers, one ice cube – you know, I had to report in about my day at school and just give him sort of a…" He trailed off, seeing the look on his boss' face before turning to the monitor. "We bagged and tagged everything in Qassam's room. There wasn't much there. Koran. Prayer rug. Fast food wrappers. This guy took home from work and didn't empty his trash. He had sinus problems. Bad breath." Kate's nose wrinkled.

"Yeah, probably because he didn't brush his teeth. There was no brush or toothpaste in his bathroom." Dinozzo held up several household items.

"Just aspirin, sinus spray and breath freshener." Gibbs frowned.

"Did you swab for explosives?" His senior agent nodded.

"Yeah. Top to bottom. Found minute traces of nitrate in the dresser table. Probably where he kept his Beretta."

"Computer?"

"Not even a Gameboy, boss." Kate rolled her eyes.

"He didn't have a TV, Tony." Tony looked at her as if she was stupid.

"Gameboy is handheld, Kate. You're thinking about XBoxes, PS Twos, GameCubes…" Gibbs stared into space as his agents argued. He couldn't stop thinking about his boy. Harry hadn't wanted him to go to work this morning, had cried and clung to him as he left, and it had broke his heart to have to pull him off of him and hand him to Melody, their sitter. He just wanted to solve this case, go home, and see his son. He looked back up at the two still bickering adults.

"Are you two done?" He snapped, standing up and pointing at the monitor.

"What are you doing?" Kate asked. Gibbs swung around to face her.

"I'm thinking of kicking some ass. Gitmo intel said Qassam was to execute a terrorist attack on the Naval base at Norfolk. He's in no shape to tell us how or when… his computer might." She shook her head.

"No computer."

"What about the food court where he worked?" Tony stepped forward.

"Ah, just a keyboard with pictures. Burgers, malts, fries. Not exactly cyberspace friendly, boss." Kate snapped her fingers.

"Hey, he could have used an internet café. I'll check Little Creek and his neighborhood." Gibbs frowned.

"I should have thought of that."

"Your mind is somewhere else. If I had a kid I would be worried, too. And well, you're more – you know, smurf than alpha geek. So am I, according to Agent McGee."

"You're right, DiNozzo." Tony looked shocked.

"I am? About which one?" Gibbs sighed.

"Both. Harry isn't doing well, but I need to get him out of my head if we had to go on the field. And there's no way I could keep up with all of these gadgets. Hell, I still use a notebook and a pencil instead of a P-D-Q." Tony grimaced.

"It's P-D-A. You can call it Palm Pilot."

"It doesn't matter what I call it if I can't use it!"

"I'll teach you." Gibbs waved his hand through the air.

"You'll teach me? McGee teaches you, you teach me. It's backwards! God, I need coffee." He stormed out of the bullpen, grabbing his empty cup along the way, hoping that some caffeine will help him get his mind back onto his work.

"What was that all about?" Kate asked, her brows furrowed.

"Gibbs' bete noire." Tony answered.

* * *

The terrorist, who when Ducky asked, said to call him Ari, slid a drawer open. "Right ventricle, left atria. You haven't done the autopsy." Ducky frowned.

"It was late. I was due to autopsy today."

"Then you best place him on the table. Did you draw blood last night?"

"Yes."

"Is it refrigerated here?"

"No." Ducky replied shortly.

"You sent it with his clothing to forensics?" Ducky nodded.

"Yes. Are you a pathologist?" Ari ignored the doctor's question.

"Where is the lab?"

"One floor up. Directly above us." Gerald responded.

"There's a stairwell outside to the left you can use." Ducky said. Ari tilted his head.

"Not the elevator?" The M.E chuckled.

"I assumed you'd think that too risky."

"Is it an emergency stairwell?" Ducky shook his head.

"No. That would be alarmed."

"Surveillance camera?" A beat passes following the terrorist's question.

"Yes." Ari turned around to Gerald and pushed the gun against his shoulder. "I answered promptly and I haven't lied!" Ducky said desperately, stepping forward several steps.

"You tried to trick me, Doctor Mallard."

"That wasn't a condition." He protested.

"It is now."

* * *

Abby ran into the bullpen, looking around frantically. "Where's Gibbs?" She asked Kate.

"With the Director. You okay?" The special agent asked, pushing up from her desk.

"Where's Tony?"

"The head. What's wrong, Abby?" The forensic scientist sighed, lifting up the box in her hands.

"Ducky needs all this evidence back in autopsy." Kate frowned.

"Before you've tested it?" Abby nodded.

"Yeah."

"That's strange."

"Yeah. I can't go down to autopsy." Kate pulled Abby over to her desk, making her sit the box down.

"Why?" Abby's hands shook.

"I had this dream like a month ago and ever since then autopsy scares the hell out of me." Kate chuckled, making Abby look at her, hurt.

"Why are you laughing?" The agent sobered quickly.

"Sorry. Sorry. I was um…I was just thinking of Tony."

"Tony's afraid of autopsy too?"

"No," Kate rolled her eyes. He dreams of vampires."

"Oh." Abby smiled. "I dig vampire dreams." Kate smiled.

"Oh, Tony sure doesn't."

"Well that's silly." The brown haired women tilted her head.

"But fear of going into autopsy which you've done your entire career isn't?" Abby nodded.

"Of course it is. It doesn't change anything. I can't even take the elevator to the basement anymore." Kate's eyes grew wide.

"What?"

"Yeah."

"So do you want me to take this evidence down to Ducky?" She gestured to the box and Abby's eyes lit up.

"Would you?" Kate nodded.

"Yeah, of course."

"Okay. You have to sign to maintain the chain of evidence."

"Right," She said as she signed for the evidence.

"Oh, and um…Ducky's doing an infectious autopsy." Kate's eyebrows furrowed.

"On who? The terrorist?" Abby shrugged.

"I don't know. He just said to leave everything outside the door."

"Well, Qassam is the only body in autopsy. Why would Ducky think he was infectious if you hadn't done a blood test?"

"I don't know."

* * *

"Have you worked with Doctor Mallard long, Gerald?" Gerald didn't look up from the body he was dissecting.

"A little over two years, now." The two M.E.s shared a smile before turning back to their work.

"Tell me about his family." Gerald looked up shocked.

"Why do you want to learn about them?" Ari shrugged.

"Just curious." Taking a quick glance at his boss, the assistant answered slowly.

"There is only one member of his family that I've met; his mother who is regrettably out of the country at the moment, otherwise I'm sure she would love to meet you." Ari smiled before cocking the gun and pointing at the younger man.

"You seem to have developed the doctor's sense of humor. I thought that we agreed that you would no longer lie to me." Gerald's eyes widened.

"I didn't lie!" The terrorist scoffed.

"I can think of more people that man considers family that I am sure you have met before. Several agents and a forensic scientist are just a few. And, judging by his recent credit card purchases, there is a little boy he considers a grandson." Ari looked over at the older man, whose knuckles were turning white from the tight grip he had on his tools. "His name is…Harry, I believe. Adorable child, and ever so polite." Gerald jumped when Ducky slammed his knives down on the table and walked forward until he was right in front of their captor.

"You stay away from them or the next body I cut open on that table will be yours!" Gerald stared at his boss incredulously. Never before had he seen the man so angry, yet he could tell that fear was hidden in his eyes.

"There is nothing you can do to me before I shoot you and your friend here. I suggest you return to your autopsy, Doctor Mallard."

* * *

Harry sat at the kitchen table, coloring a picture as Melody made him dinner. Sitting a large glass of chocolate milk in front of the boy, she slid into the seat next to him.

"Hey, little man, whatcha drawing?" Melody took a deep drink of her soda before leaning over the 4 year old's shoulder. Harry lifted the paper off of the table. It showed several adult sized drawings and one small dark haired one.

"That's Daddy," he said, pointing to the silver haired man holding the small black haired boy's hand. "And that one is Aunt Abby." Melody could tell that Harry had spent extra long time drawing her out, for she could see every article of clothing, jewelry, and tattoo on the goth's picture. "And there is Grandpa Gibbs and Ducky, and Tony, and Aunt Kate and Tim!" Harry proudly pointed out each person before taking a blue crayon and expertly writing their names under each of them. At the bottom of the page, in capital letters he wrote MY FAMILY. He turned to the teenager with a bright smile on his face, his green eyes sparkling.

"It's a masterpiece, Har! It deserves a special place of honor!" Melody took the drawing and pinned it to the fridge with a magnet. "There, front and center!" Harry giggled. "Now, eat your dinner, or I will!" She warned and he gasped before he started to shovel the macaroni and cheese into his mouth. He finished and carefully grabbed his glass of milk and gulped it down. He smiled at Melody and she laughed at his chocolate mustache. "Next time, don't eat that fast, or you'll choke, bud." Wiping away his 'facial hair' she swung the boy onto her hip with a groan. "You're almost too big for me to carry!"

They walked up into his room, where Harry jumped out of her arms and ran to his dresser, pulling out a pair of pajamas. "I want to wear these ones!" He proclaimed. Melody laughed at camo pj's before helping the little boy pull them on. Once she had lifted him onto his bed Harry looked up that her with sad eyes.

"Do I have to go to sleep right now? Daddy's not here to chase the nightmare 'way." Melody's heart melted and she pulled him into a hug.

"Hey, little man, it's alright. Your dad will be back soon, and then you can tell him all about what we did today?" Feeling his tears soak through her shirt, Melody sighed and picked him up before carrying him back down stairs and sitting with him on the couch. "Okay, I'll tell you what. We can sit out here and watch a movie until you fall asleep. How does that sound?" Harry nodded and pushed himself off of the couch and onto the floor in front of it, leaning against the furniture. Melody slid down next to him and turned on the tv. Neither knew the danger that was just outside their house, or the fact that a sniper's rifle was pointed right at them.

* * *

Abby paced back and forth in front of the bullpen. "There's a way to overcome this. Really? How? Group therapy. Oh, how many people have a fear of autopsy? You're going to be a group of one! Lots of people wouldn't be caught dead in an autopsy room. Very funny. Maybe hypnotism. Ooh, remember Doctor Wertzer's class? You still don't know what he made you do when you were under hypnosis. Whatever it was, I woke up feeling refreshed…in his office a day later."

"Abby?" She swung around and faced Gibbs.

"Yes?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was having an internal debate."

"Mmm." Gibbs tilted his head. "Who's winning?"

"I'm not sure." Her face fell. "Oh, hell." The phobic side."

"Still can't enter autopsy?" Abby shook her head.

"No." The agent decided it was time to change the subject.

"Did you find any tag traces of explosives on the terrorist's clothes?"

"Ducky took everything back before I had a chance to test it." Gibbs looked at her worriedly.

"What?" She shrugged.

"Don't look at me! He wouldn't say why. He just wanted everything back including the blood." He frowned.

"Including the blood?"

"Yeah, it was a bit weird. There's no way to do a blood test in autopsy."

"Did Gerald pick it up?" Abby shook her head.

"Gerald was busy. Ducky just wanted me down there STAT."

"STAT?"

"Yeah. And I wouldn't go so Kate took it down."

"Hey boss. What's up, Abs?" Gibbs and Abby turned around to see Special Agent Dinozzo walking up to them.

"Something's…"

"Hinky?" Tony supplied.

"Tony, get autopsy on the plasma." He looked at Gibbs with a confused look on his face.

"Huh?" Gibbs slapped the back of Tony's head, pointing over to the monitor.

"Autopsy. TV. Now! Why would Ducky say STAT?" Abby walked next to Gibbs as he went into the bullpen.

"Because he's a doctor? And because STAT means fast and a medical emergency?"

"Medical emergency," Gibbs murmured. "But what is a medical emergency in autopsy?" Tony shook his head.

"All I'm getting is snow, boss." The two other NCIS employees turned to look at the monitor and were met with the sight of a flickering black and white screen.

* * *

"You can leave it there," Ducky called through the glass. Kate held up a clipboard.

"You have to sign." The doctor looked over his shoulder, wearing a frazzled expression.

"Well, I can't open the doors with you there." Kate shrugged.

"What's the infection?"

"Don't know yet. He's got a pustule on his thigh. It may be nothing. Yeah, I'll sign. Cross my heart." Because of nothing else to say, there was an awkward pause.

"I beat my phobia!" Ducky chuckled as Kate bent down and sat the box of evidence onto the ground.

"Yes, so I see, Abby. Well done." The door slid opened and Kate turned around to find the barrel of a gun pressed to her forehead as she stared into the dark eyes or Ari, who tilted his head.

"When did lab rats start carrying Sig Sauers?"

* * *

Kate sighed as the terrorist finished patting her down, rather evasively, she might add, and began to look through her identification. "No throw away? Special Agent Caitlin Todd. Are you any good with this gun, Caitlin?" She scowled.

"Give it back and I'll demonstrate." Ari smirked.

"Mmm, ever fire it in anger?"

"I would love to right now." He pushed the gun against her temple.

"Did you shoot Qassam? Did you put that double tap in his heart?" Ducky stepped forward.

"She didn't shoot him."

"Who did?" Ari asked. The M.E. sucked in a breath.

"Special Agent Gibbs." Kate looked up at him shocked.

"Ducky!" The dark man frowned.

"That name rings a bell, Doctor Mallard. Isn't he the father of the adorable little grandson of yours?"

"Don't answer this bastard!" Ari waved his gun in the air patronisingly.

"You mustn't chastise the good doctor, Caitlin, at least not until you know my rules."

"I don't play by terrorist rules."

"Who says I'm a terrorist? Doctor, is this all the evidence?" Ducky nodded.

"From what I can see from here. Gerald?" His assistant quickly looked through the box.

"It looks like all of it."

"Caitlin, you may roll over now if you keep your hands where they are." Kate sat up from where she had been laying on an autopsy table. "Did Special Agents search Qassam's room? Where is the evidence that was bagged and tagged?" The agents shrugged. "Doctor, please explain the rules to stubborn little Caitlin." Ducky walked over and stood next to Kate.

"If we lie, or he thinks we're lying, he'll put a bullet in one of Gerald's joints."

"Be specific. One of his ball and socket joints. And you omitted one condition." Ducky's eyebrows furrowed.

"I did?"

"Yes, you did," Ari said, making the doctor's eyes light up.

"Oh, yes. We mustn't try to trick him."

"Which you tried to do, Caitlin, by saying you beat your phobia." Ari swung his gun around and pressed it against Gerald's shoulder.

"But she didn't know the rules." Ducky said anxiously.

"But you did, Doctor Mallard. And you joined the ruse by calling her Abby." The man smiled at his hostages before pulling the trigger, firing a single shot into the body below him. Gerald screamed out in pain, grabbing at his bleeding shoulder.

"Oh, God. No…" Ducky and Kate lifted him up, and placed him on an autopsy table, the former holding a cloth tightly against his shoulder.

"Don't worry, son. I'll take care of you."

"You bastard!" Ari clucked his tongue.

"You seemed like such a bright young woman and that's all you can say?" Gerald shouts again.

"You bastard!" Kate said. Ducky motioned her her.

"Kate! Kate! Kate! My medical bag. Over by the desk on the floor. Sorry, Gerald. Hang on. I've got morphine."

"As much as I would like the pleasure of putting a bullet into Gerald's knee as well, I'm saddened to say that neither of you seemed to care that much about my rules."

"That's not true," Ducky assured as he tried desperately to stop the bleeding. Kate opened the doctor's bag and shuffled through it.

"Nevertheless, I believe that you need some new motivation to follow my directions, especially considering that poor Gerald here will die of bloodloss unless you can get it to stop, doctor." Reaching into his pocket, Ari pulled out a hand-held monitor. "Do you know what this is?" Ducky waved Kate off, and she turned to look at the dark-haired man, gasping at what she saw on the screen.

"No…" She whispered. Ducky wrapped Gerald's arm, having been able to stop the bleeding, before turning to look at what had Kate so upset. His face paled.

"You wouldn't dare!" He choked out. Ari just smiled.

"On the contrary, my dear man. You both seem to have quite a bit of affection for this person; what would be a better incentive to do what I say than this?" Sitting the screen down on the table next to Gerald, Ari grabbed a device from his other pocket. "One press of this button, and my partner receives a message to shoot. You do what I say, or he dies." Kate and Ducky stared at the screen. Through a scope on a sniper's rifle, they could see a window. Inside the house was Harry, and the target was lined up right at his head as he sat with his babysitter watching Mickey Mouse.

The threat was simple. No lying, tricking, or anything like that, or Harry Gibbs would be dead.

* * *

Ducky was back at Gerald's side, for he had bled through his bandages already, when the phone rang.

"Answer the phone, Doctor."

"You answer it!" I'm trying to stop this bleeding." Ducky sniped over his shoulder. He handed a shot to Kate. "Give him the morphine!"

"Where?"

"In the thigh right through the cloth," Ari said. "You better answer that call or you'll be performing an autopsy on a child soon." Ducky growled, a sound that slightly scared the former secret service agent.

"Kate, come here. Come here. Throw that away!" She dropped the now empty syringe into a trash bin. "Come here! Come. Put pressure on here. If the blood seeps through your fingers, then push harder." He ran to the phone and picked it up, his hands shaking slightly. "Autopsy."

"Ducky. What's with the infectious autopsy?" Gibb's voice wafted through the speaker.

"Purely precautionary," the doctor said, throwing glances over his shoulder at Gerald and the monitor Harry was on.

" Is that why you took the evidence back?" The agent questioned,

"Yeah, sorry. But I'm really busy. I have no time to _kid_ around." Ducky hoped that Gibbs had gotten his message, but sadly he hadn't caught onto it.

"Hey, is Kate there?" Gibbs' suddenly asked. The old medical examiner looked to his right at Ari who shook his head.

"No." He replied. "She left a few minutes ago."

"Okay." Gibbs sighed. "You let me know when I can come down. You got me curious." Ari clicked a button on the phone's doc, ending the conversation. Ducky looked up at him, hate evident in his eyes.

"I can't wait to weigh your liver."

* * *

"How's he doing?" Kate asked, a hand on a fuming Ducky's back. Gerald rolled his eyes.

"I'm fine." She smiled.

"The bleeding stopped. That's good." Ari appeared across from them, the communications device in his hand, the one thing keeping a little boy from being murdered.

"Yes, and no. Correct, Doctor Mallard?" Ducky frowned, not looking at the taller man in the eye.

"I had to clamp his axillary artery to stop it."

"Which means Gerald will lose his arm if the artery isn't repaired and the blood flow restored soon."

"Ducky, can't you do that?" Kate asked desperately.

"This is an autopsy room, not an ER." Ducky said frustrated. "No, I can't. I'm sorry.b He's going to need a fully equipped room and staff."

"Which he will get as soon as I'm out of here. So where is the evidence collected in Qassam's room?" Ari asked.

"The lock-up," Kate said sourly.

"Which is?" She pointed towards the ceiling.

"In the garage, one floor up." Ari tilted his head.

"The same way I came in." He stated.

"I don't know how you came in." Ari smiled at Kate's words.

"In a body bag." Kate smirked.

"Same way you're going out." He ignored her.

"Is it the same garage?" Ducky finally looked up, his angry gaze meeting the terrorists steel one.

"No. The evidence locker is in the garage next to forensics. Above us." Ari unpacks his bag.

"Doctor, Caitlin, put Qassam in the body bag." Ducky and Kate stare at the man , not moving from where they stood. "Now, please. Soon they'll be calling to negotiate your release." Kate frowned.

"We don't negotiate with terrorists." Ari shook his head, clicking his tongue.

"Caitlin, when you get to know me better, you won't call me that."

"I have no intention of getting to know you better." He tilted his head.

"Are you sure?"

* * *

"Special Agent Gibbs," Gibbs said, holding out his hand to a shorter man, who shook it, a grim smile on his face.

"H-R-T Leader Horowitz. What do you got, Gibbs?" Gibbs rolled out a map of Ducky's lab.

"A terrorist is holding three of our people hostage in autopsy. One of the hostages is wounded. We're here. This is autopsy. There are three exits: elevator, staircase, receiving. I have special agents at all three and they're on TAC-one." Horowitz turned around and starting directing his people to their stations.

"Team one – elevator. Team two – stairway. Three – receiving." Gibbs lifted up his walkie-talkie.

"Balboa, bring the elevator to level three for H-R-T. Pacci, DiNozzo, replacements are on the way. Stairwell and elevators on the other side of the staircase. Your Team Three will have to access receiving from the alley." The HRT captain raised his hand, pointing down the hall.

"Okay, let's hit it, gentlemen! Let's move!" Gibbs ran up next to him.

"Hang on a second. Those hostages are our people. I'm in charge here. Understood?" Horowitz nodded.

"Understood. Let's move out!"

* * *

Ari held up his walkie-talkie. "I've regrettably had to demonstrate the consequence of not obeying my orders. The man I shot is in danger of losing his arm." The hostage rescue captain, Jennifer Arkin, spoke up.

"Well then it's important-"

"When all evidence collected from Qassam's room is in my hand… you may have your wounded man."

"I'll need the approval of the NCIS…Director before I-"

"He's standing next to you," Ari said, cutting Arkin off. " Nod yes to the negotiator, Director Morrow." There was a pause.

"You have a deal. Now can we talk about releasing…?"

"You have ten minutes."

"No, we need more ti-" Came Arkin's slightly panicked reply, but Ari had already hung up. Kate saw an autopsy knife on the table next to Gerald and grasped it, but Ducky laid a hand on her arm.

"Kate, no! He wants you to try." Kate turned around, shrugging his grip off of her and ran right into Ari, who grabbed her arm that was holding the weapon.

"Doctor Mallard thinks you were daring me to pick up this knife." She said, struggling against his hold.

"The proper term is a dissecting tool."

"You didn't answer my question! You just wanted an excuse to shoot Harry!" Ari slapped the women before laughing.

"I have no intention of killing a child, Caitlin; if you three do what I say no more blood will be shed. I did, however, want to see if I was right about you."

"Next time I'll be quicker."

"Oh, don't you wonder why you weren't now?" Kate stumbled back, slightly shocked. Ducky stepped forward.

"Uh, could you give me a go?" Ari shook his head.

"I think not, Doctor. You would kill me without hesitation. I do, however, think you would regret it. Now, we have work to do if we're all to survive this day."

* * *

"You're older than I expected." Gibbs kept himself from snorting at the first words the terrorist chose to say. He reeled when he saw the monitor on the autopsy table but managed to keep his face passive.

"Where are the other hostages?" Ari ignored him.

"Box on the floor. Hands on top of your head, turn around, and walk back to the door." Gibbs didn't move.

"Not without Gerald."

"He won't leave here at all unless you put the box on the floor, your hands on your head, turn around-"

"Turn around and walk back to the door." Gibbs cut him off. "Older doesn't mean deaf. You want out of here alive?"

"I'm sure Gerald-not to mention someone else you care about- do."

"I think you do, too. That's why very slowly now I'm going to reach into this box and take out of here with two fingers exactly what you want." Gibbs inhaled the nasal spray. "Ah! Surprise! You failed. Mission over. The real smallpox virus is on its way to CDC. Do you want to talk about whether you live or die?"

"How far were you from Qassam when you shot him?:

"Oh, I don't know."

"You measured it for your incident report," Ari pressed.

"Thirty seven feet and a few inches, give or take." The terrorist tilted his head.

"Oh, you're a very good shot."

"I would love to demonstrate."

"Funny. Special Agent Todd said the same thing." Images of three dead and broken bodies flashed in front of Gibbs' eyes.

"Where is she?" He asked. "And the doctor?"

"Would you truly like to demonstrate?"

"Yep."

"Agent Todd's Sig Sauer is in the box to your left. The clip is from the Sig Sauer. Untampered. All live rounds." There was a pause as Gibbs lifted up the weapon.

"Why?"

"Because I want to look you in the eyes when I kill you. And to tell you that I am about to take away the last living person in your family. Say goodbye to your son, Special Agent Gibbs." Gibbs swung around and fired three shots at Ari, but the man had already pressed the button. The agent gasped in pain when he felt a bullet go into his shoulder. As he fell down to the ground, his eyes never left the monitor showing his family, and when he heard a loud CRACK and Harry disappeared from the screen, he let out a dry sob and allowed the darkness to overtake him.

* * *

Gibbs groaned as he heard Tony's voice. "Boss! Boss! Hey, boss. Listen, don't try to sit up. Don't sit up-" Gibbs sat up. "The EMTs will be here in a minute. It's a through and through. Nothing vital."

"Did I get him?" Tony bit his lip.

"No, he had an accomplice. Our guy snuck out wearing a HRT uniform." Gibbs groaned, and his eyes shot open.

"Harry! I need to get home right now!"

"What? No! The doctor's need to check you out!" But his boss had already stumbled to his feet and ran out of the room and into the elevator, holding a hand to his wounded arm.

"Send them to my house," He called over his shoulder as the doors slid shut. Tony sat there shocked and confused before Kate walked up to him, and seeing his expression, elaborated.

"Ari, our terrorist guy, had a sniper trained on Harry." Several seconds passed as Tony allowed that new information to sink in, before he suddenly bolted from the crime scene. Ducky and Kate followed soon after, stopping only to grab a flustered Abby from her lab. They hoped that Harry was somehow alive, but if he wasn't then Gibbs would really need someone to comfort him. Hell, all of them would need a shoulder to cry on. Ari better hope that that little boy survived, or he will have several angry agents, a medical examiner skilled with knives, and a forensic scientist who could-would- kill him without leaving any evidence behind.

Harry had to be okay. They _needed_ him to be okay.

* * *

HAPPY HALLOWEEN GUYS! I dont care how old I get; I will forever be going trick or treating. My best friend and I have plans to dress up as babies when we are 90 fot Halloween! Hope you guys had lots of fun tonight and ate a lot of candy!

Please Read and Review, I really enjoy hearing from y'all!

Love Y'all!


	5. Chapter 5

**I own neither the worlds of Harry Potter or NCIS, I just enjoy playing in their sandboxes.**

 **Thanks to BlackWidowAndCapRule I finally have a timeline worked out:**

 ** _July 31 2000 - Harry is born_**

 ** _October 31 2001 - James and Lily are killed._**

 _ **December 19 2001- The Gibb's adopt Harry**_

 _ **February 28 2003 - Kelly and Shannon are killed.**_

 _ **September 23 2003 - Yankee White happens.**_

 _ **November 7 2004 - Bete Noire happens.**_

 **November 21 2004- See No Evil Happens**

 **November 30 2004- River comes to visit**

 **September 1 2011 - Harry and CO. go to Hogwarts for their first year**

 **To everyone who wanted Tim, or Tony, or Gibbs or someone to be magical, I'm sorry to disappoint but i don't think that I can work that in.**

 **Thank you Lydia-Hood** **for the idea of how to get rid of Kate/bring Ziva in! It is a great idea and I am really excited to use it!**

 **I am so so so so so so so sooooooo sorry for not updating sooner. This past month has just been crazy between school, before school clubs, sports, I almost went insane! So without further a do, the thing you have all been waiting for...**

Chapter Five

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office when it happened. All of the instruments that he had set up to monitor Harry Potter's accidental magic started blaring. Alarmed, the old professor lept from his chair and gasped at what his machines told him; Harry had just released an unnaturally large burst of magic, big enough that the ministry would have been able to pick up on it. Cursing, he apparated from his office in Hogwarts right into Privet Drive. Strolling down to Number Four, Dumbledore knocked stiffly on the door. It was opened by a short woman with greying hair.

"How may I… help you?" She asked, pausing a bit as she took in the man's weird attire.

"Excuse me, madame. I must speak to Mr and Mrs. Dursley in regards to their nephew." The women looked at him blankly.

"I'm sorry, you must have the wrong address. There are no Dursleys living here, only Nickels, and before us there was a delightful three-person family by the name of Smith. Now, good day!" Dumbledore's face was comical as the little lady slammed the door, hitting his nose in the process. Turning away from the house, the old wizard stroked his beard in deep thought, worry clouding his eyes. Where on earth could the Potter boy be? If he wasn't here, then maybe he wasn't even with the Dursleys and he had to be raised by people who would neglect him so that he would be meek and uncertain of everything, so that Dumbledore could sweep in and mold him to be the perfect little sacrifice. He had to find the snot-nosed brat, fast.

It was time to reform the Order.

Gibbs had never driven so fast in his entire life. The minute he had reached his car, he had slammed the key into the ignition and was flying out of the parking lot, not giving a damn about his injured shoulder. The only thing that mattered was Harry. The normally 20 minute drive took only 10, and as the NCIS agent got to the door, another car pulled into his driveway, but he paid no attention to his team. He threw open the door to his home and ran into the living room, keeping his eyes focused on the opposite wall. Seeing the shattered window behind the couch made him gasp and he fell to his knees, tears in his eyes. It had happened, again. He lost his family, and there had been nothing he could do to save him.

But, wait. The noise his people made as they came into the house made his head lift up and he really looked into his room for the first time.

There was no blood, no dead body, nothing, besides the broken glass and the bullet lodged in the tv, that a murder had even been attempted. Gibbs sucked in a breath and jumped to his feet, spinning around to where Abby, Ducky, Tony and Kate stood in the doorway.

"He's not dead. I don't know how he did it, but somehow, neither Harry nor Melody were shot. I just don't-" Kate stepped forward.

"Don't know where he is. We'll split up and search the house, and whoever finds them first, well, we'll all come running." With that, the five NCIS workers split up, each of them running through the home abnormally fast, throwing open bedroom doors, cabinets, everything. They only had one last floor to check and they Ducky wasn't sure what would be worse; if Harry had been killed by the gun, or if he had bled out in his hiding place somewhere.

Abby heard it first. A faint BU-BUMP, BU-BUMP, BU-BUMP followed by muffled voice(s?). She held her breath as she walked down to the end of the hall and pulled open the door to the closet. Abby barely had time to brace herself in time to catch the falling teen who tumbled out of the small room as her knees buckled. Setting her gently on the ground, Abby yelled down the hall before turning back to the open closet. Curled up in the corner of the 3 by 4 walk in was Harry, who had his knees pulled up against his chest and his eyes were wide and slightly scared. Seeing Abby, though, made him launch into her arms, and wrap his own tightly around her neck, as she swung him around before sliding down onto the floor next to Melody, still holding the 4 ½ year old against her body. Abby wasn't at all ashamed of the tears that ran down her face, the only thing she could think of was that somehow, by some miracle, their little boy was alright. She jumped and swung her arm out in a solid punch when a hand landed on her shoulder, startling her, but her 'attacker' caught her wrist easily.

Gibbs stared down at Abby and wordlessly held out his arms. She immediately surrendered her hold on the boy, albeit a bit reluctantly, but all of her silent protests were squashed as soon as she saw how her boss clutched Harry to his chest, as if he was the only thing keeping him on Earth. Looking down the hall, Abby pulled Melody to her feet and handed her off to Ducky, who slowly walked her down to the couch ( _NOT_ the one in the living room) and started talking to her. The other agents - and forensic scientist - followed behind, knowing that neither father nor son would be letting go anytime soon.

Gibbs brushed a hand through Harry's hair, watching the small boy's chest rise and fall rhythmically. He sighed. He had come close to losing another person in his family, today. _Too_ close. This time they had been lucky, but what about next time? Or the time after that? Maybe it's time to start his training earlier than originally planned. But right now, there was no way in hell he was letting his little boy out of his sight.

When Gibbs showed up to work the next day with Harry in tow, no one batted an eye at it - except Thomas Morrow. The second he had seen the four and a half year old, the director of NCIS turned red faced and demanded that he leave, immediately. The next thing he knew, half of his employees were in his face, saying that the kid wasn't going anywhere, that he had just been shot at, and he was staying here, where he would be safe, (over the past year, they had grown very, ah, protective, over Harry Gibbs). No one really wanted to mention the fact that a terrorist, still unknown by the way, had broken into the building. They seemed to think that it was just a one time thing. Morrow was sent back into his office with his tail between his legs.

So while Gibbs went over old case files Harry sat under his desk reading books for kids at least 3 times older than him and coloring in a coloring book. On slow days in the office, Kate and Tony would take him to the park - Kate's choice- or a movie - Tony's pick. Harry was back to being a normal, happy four year old, oblivious to the fact that his entire world was about to change.

"McGee! Go and help Abby hack Watson's computer. And take Harry with you!" Gibbs watched as his boy ran into the elevator, yelling for Tim to hurry up. Gibbs wasn't sure if he could deal with it if Harry was ever kidnapped. He turned to Tony. "Hey, come one. Let's go." Kate wrinkled her nose as she walked by Dinozzo.

"A little short on deodorant today, Tony?

"Don't back down." Gibbs said, watching as Captain Watson struggled to negotiate with the kidnapper. "Tell him you want to talk to your daughter."

"I want to speak to her! Right now!" Kate gasps when a hooded man appears on the screen, holding a knife against Sandy's ear.

"Plays the piano," He said. "Gifted, I hear. You don't need eyes to play the piano…. but you sure as hell need ears!" Gibbs winces as Sandy screams, thoughts of Kelly and Harry running through his head at breakneck speeds.

"Sandy!" Watson shouts.

"One little tap. Monaural." The masked man gently presses the blade against Sandy's right ear, not enough to hurt her but definitely enough to scare her, before moving the knife to her other ear. "Then the other ear, pop! Total silence and darkness forever." Sandy cries out and Kate looks up at her boss with wide eyes.

"We can't risk that!"

"He's bluffing. Stand your ground. Tell him if he does, that he'll never see a penny.

"Gibbs…" Captain Watson's hands start shaking.

"Let her go unharmed or I swear you'll never see a dime."

"You know, I never was any good at taking orders, Captain." The man seemed to smile, at least from what the NCIS agents could see of his face through the mask as he leaned a little closer to the young girl before the video footage cut out.

Watson jumps when almost an hour later the phone rings loudly.

"Answer your phone, Captain," The computerised voice said mockingly.

"Where is she? Where's my daughter!"

"I said answer the phone, Captain!" Watson's hands shook as he pressed the speakerphone button.

"Yes?

"Daddy?!" The captain let out a shaky breath when he heard his daughter's voice.

"Sandy! Sweetheart, where are you?" He asked loudly.

"I don't know," she cried. "He let me go, but he said, he said he'll kill Mom if I tell anyone what happened!" Watson turns to glare at the computer screen.

"Tell me where she is."

"Lorton Amtrak station. You got your good faith gesture. Now get back to work."

"Sandy, sweetheart, just stay right there. Don't… don't go anywhere. And Daddy… Daddy will be there to get you in just a little while." Tears pool in the decorated officer's eyes as he listened to Sandy plead for him not to go, not to leave her.

"Hang up the phone now, Captain! And believe me when I say your wife's life depends on it" The kidnapper snarled out.

"I have to hang up now, baby. And listen… I want you to be brave for me, okay? This will be over before you know it."

"Daddy, help me! Da-" Watson hung up, letting his head fall into his hands.

"God forgive me." Gibbs looked over at Tony and Kate who both nodded and were out the door seconds later to go and find Sandy.

Harry sat next to Abby, spinning around in his chair, watching as the two technology savvy 'agents' tried to hack into the Pentagon. Abby through her hands into the air. "Face it, McGee. We are doomed."

"Okay, we can try random password gener-"

"Did it."

"How about an open port scan?"

"Done it."

"Oh, there's undocumented hole in the latest I.S.I-" Abby held up her hand to stop him.

"Tried it." McGee sighed.

"Gibbs can't honestly expect us to hack into the Pentagon in a single afternoon?"

"Yeah."

"You're right. We are doomed."

"We have to call D.O.D. and hope they'll let us in without severing the connection."

"This is hopeless." Timmy cried, causing Harry to look up.

"You're trying too hard." The two agents looked back to see Harry's eyes raking over the computer screen. "No matter how amazing y'all are, you can't hack into this place, can you?" The dark haired boy leaned forward. "But this man did. What if the horse thing doesn't go into the entire network, but only a specific part? If it was systemwide, the bad guy…" Abby snapped her fingers.

"Could just steal the money himself. He wouldn't need…" McGee smiled.

"Watson to do it for him. That means that he can't access the rest of the network."

"We've been trying to hack the wrong place!"

"Yeah." While Mcgee's fingers started flying across the keyboard, Abby scooped Harry into her arms and placed a big sloppy kiss on his cheek.

"Whatever would we do without you, Greeneyes?" Harry giggled and Tim started talking to himself.

"All right, scan for an open U-D-P and T-C-P connections on the J-SOC V-P-N. Yes! Yes! Got multiple incoming packets. Ports one-three-nine, four-four-five. Looks like a variant of the doomsday Trojan." Abby sighed happily.

"I love it when you talk geek."

"I love it that you love it." McGee winked at the goth, making Harry groan.

"I'll be sure to mention that to Captain Watson right after we're done burying his family." Abby and Timmy whirled around to see their boss standing over the.

"I would hold off on those funeral arrangements, Gibbs. The reason we're so excited…"

"Harry just told us how to hack Captain Watson's computer." Gibbs raised an eyebrow, looking inquiringly down at his son, who blushed.

"They were making everything too complicated! It was basically like playing games; just find the loophole in the game and you're in!" Abby smiled.

"Are you sure that you are only four years old." Harry ducked his head. "Anyway, we should be able to back trace the connection…" Suddenly the computer started to beep and send off sparks. "No! No! No! No! No! Ah! My baby just french fried."

"The system's overheated." McGee stated.

"So? Reboot it."

"Believe it or not, Gibbs, not all computer problems can be solved by rebooting" Gibbs held up his cell and winked at Harry.

"Works for me." Abby and McGee shared a look.

'Even if it does, it's going to take at least an hour for mine to cool down."

"And without air conditioning, it'll happen again." Gibbs shrugged.

"So take it someplace cooler."

"Where? This whole building is like an illegal sweatshop."

"Not the whole building, Abs."

"Hey, Ducky. My computer died. We need some place cooler to set up shop." The M.E. raised his blood covered hands.

"Well, we're a bit tight on space at the moment, but you could use one oh seven." Ducky walked over and slid open the drawer, causing McGee to gasp at the corpse laying on the slab.

"Definitely not one oh seven." He slid the morgue closed. "His family was supposed to make arrangements to pick him up last week." Dr. Mallard opened a new slot. "Ah, there we are. How's that?"

"Perfect. Thank you." The elderly doctor looked intently over at the forensic scientist, a grim smile on his face.

"Abby, how is our boy?"

"Harry? Besides being his normal genius self, he's back to being a four year old kid. Sometimes I wonder if he ever will be a normal kid." Ducky smiled.

"Let's hope so. No matter how much I love him, I don't think that we could survive another Gibbs."

Kate and Tony scanned the train station for Captain Watson's little girl, Sandy.

"When I'm a mother, I'm never letting my kids out of my sight."

"Yeah, how do you plan on doing that?"

"G-P-S locater strapped to the ankle. Audio and video surveillance built into their clothes."

"No, I mean the part about becoming a mother." Kate rolled her eyes.

"Funny. The area looks clear to me."

"Me, too. Let's go get that kid."

Kate squatted down, staring at the little girl who was leaned against a telephone booth, crying.

"Sandy? My name's Kate." Tony smiled, even though he knew that Sandy couldn't see him.

"And I'm Tony. We're NCIS agents. That stands for…"

"I know what it stands for. They spoke at my school." The little girl looked up, blue eyes unseeing but shining with tears.

"Well, then you know that we're here to help you. Your daddy sent us." Tony nodded.

"We know what happened to you and your mom, but you're safe now. Okay?"

"I heard him." Sandy sobbed. Kate and Tony shared a look.

"Heard who, honey?"

"He didn't know it, but I heard him. He told my mom… he… he … he's going to make my dad suffer."

"What the hell is it?" McGee stared at the red spot, a repulsed look on his face. Abby shrugged it off.

"It's probably just some leftover bodily fluid." McGee paled.

"Oh, is that all."

"Yeah."

"Disgusting." Ducky walked over.

"If you want to be a full time field agent, Timothy, you're going to have to get used to sights like that."

"Is it a common occurrence, Ducky, dismembered bodies in barrels of alcohol?"

"Well, now that you mention it, I did have a great uncle who drowned in a vat of alcohol."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." Ducky smiled.

"Of course he reportedly climbed out three times to go to the bathroom." The doors leading to autopsy slid open.

"Hey, what's the holdup?" Gibbs stood behind Abby.

"We are almost set here." The senior agent looked on amusedly as their 'computer guy/agent' scrubbed furiously at a patch of blood that was on the slab of metal.

"McGee, if I were you… I would spend more time working and less time cleaning."

"Yes." Gibbs took the cleaning supplies. "Yes, Sir. Sorry, boss." The silver haired man paused on his way out to tap Ducky on the shoulder.

"Duck, I got a patient upstairs for you."

Harry sat next to the newly arrived Sandy as the M.E./Doctor bandaged her bruised wrists. Ducky batted her hands gently. "There you go. Feel better now?"

"Yes. Thank you."

"You've been a very brave patient, so I think you deserve a surprise." Ducky reached into his pocket and pulled out a candy bar. Sandy's face lit up.

"A Hershey bar?"

"Yes. Are you sure you're blind?" The little girl smiled.

"I can smell it."

"Oh, I'll be right back then. I need a few moments to talk to my friends." As the doctor walked away, Harry started talking to the now frowning girl.

"What's wrong, Sandy?" Tears rolled down the eight-year old's face.

"I'm scared. My mom is still with the man, and what if he hurts her?" Harry pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back comfortingly.

"It's gonna be alright. My dad said he will find her."

"But what if he can't?"

"He will. My daddy can do anything."

"It took him forty five minutes to drop her off." Tony clicked the clicker and a map came up. "You figure twenty two minutes out, same back. That leaves a fifteen mile radius where he could be located." Kate frowned.

"Hundreds of square miles and what? We have two hours left."

"We also pulled tapes from the train station. We might catch a shot of him dropping the kid off." The former secret service agent stared at her boss as if he was crazy when he walked in with a fresh cup of coffee.

"Gibbs, it's like a hundred degrees in here! How can you drink that stuff?"

"It keeps me cool. How's she doing, Duck?"

"Remarkably well, considering the circumstances."

"What does she remember?"

"Unfortunately everything," Ducky said sadly.

"Except for where she was." Tony added slightly bitterly.

"Maybe you haven't asked the right questions." Ducky said.

"Well, she's eight and blind, Ducky. I mean, it's not a great help in a situation like…"

"You're wrong." Harry was suddenly standing behind them and had his hands propped up on his hips. "Sandy is very smart. Maybe you just aren't!" Ducky and Gibbs smiled.

"Exactly, lad. Harry is right!" Seeing Tony about to interrupt, Ducky held up a finger. "Sandy, are you thirsty?" He whispered.

"A little bit. Can I have some water?" Came Sandy's reply. Harry, Ducky and Gibbs watched smug as shocked looks came over Tony's and Kate's faces.

Gibbs watched with a smile on his face as Captain Watson embraced his family. "Everything's going to be all right now, sweetheart, everything." Kate sighed.

"Kind of makes you think."

"About what?" Tony asked.

"Having kids someday." He snorted.

"Yeah, I don't think I could handle that. I have enough trouble as it is when I watch Harry and he's not even mine." Captain Watson held out a hand to Gibbs.

"I don't know how we could ever thank you, Agent Gibbs."

"We owe you so much."

"Thank Special Agent Watson here. We couldn't have done it without her. Thanks." Harry ran over and gave Sandy a hug before the family left the building.

"We did good today, Gibbs," Kate said. Gibbs gave her a pointed look.

"Did we, Special Agent Todd? Grayson doesn't have the smarts to be in this alone. We still have to find out who hired him."

"Not going to get it from Grayson." Tony said.

"Why not? Get him to roll for a deal."

"I don't deal." Gibbs snarled and walked out of the bullpen, only stopping to scoop Harry up and place him on his hip on his way out.

"He doesn't deal?" Kate asked.

"Not when Grayson doesn't know who hired him," Tony replied.

"This guy's good," McGee said, "We lost the money for a little while in Hong Kong."

"But McGee's bots picked it up on the transfer to Zurich."

"And with Abby's' encryption algorithm embedded in the transaction it's just-"

"Look," Gibbs cut in, his head spinning. "Just for a second… just pretend I don't know anything about computers."

"Pretend?" Abby joked.

"Can we get this guy or not?" McGee started typing on his computer.

"Well, we've been following the money for the last eight hours. And if it transfers into a country where we have juris….Wait, I don't believe this."

"What?"

"It's headed back here!" Abby swerved around to face her boss.

"Washington, D.C."

"Captain Watson?" Gibbs and his team pulled out their guns, pointing them at the man that was carrying two briefcases full of money; 2 million dollars to be exact.

"Agent Gibbs. This is not what you think." Gibbs snarled.

"You're right. It wasn't."

"You did this to your own family?" Kate said, incredulously.

"No, nobody was supposed to get hurt." Tony walks around places handcuffs on the captain, causing Watson to cry out.

"Is that tight enough for you, Captain?" Tony asked, his voice filled with sarcasm.

"I cannot believe this is happening! It was the perfect plan. Even Grayson didn't know who hired him." He eyed the NCIS agents warily. "How the hell did you figure this out?"

"Next time you might want to send your note to the FBI," said Kate, sweetly.

"Look, you've got to understand. I needed the money because…" Gibbs suddenly lunged forward, grabbing Watson and slammed him into the wall, thoughts of his wife and daughter, dead, and the fact that his son had almost been killed, twice.

"Don't you _dare_ tell me that there's a reason for you throwing away what you had," he whispered.

Later that night, Gibbs watched with a small smile on his face as he watched Tony and McGee do magic tricks for Harry, keeping him completely transfixed, trying to figure out how the coin got into his ear. He had lost his girls, but gained a new family in his agents. So maybe their was still a terrorist/assassin who had a vendetta against Gibbs. But as long as there were moments like this in between all of the bad times, who was he to complain?

One week had passed since Ari infiltrated NCIS and Morrow had finally managed to convince Gibbs to take a day off. The former marine was actually looking forward to a peaceful day with his son, but since when is anything ever peaceful in a Gibbs' life?

Harry and Gibbs were in the kitchen, the latter making breakfast and the former drawing, when there was a knock on the door. Sighing, Gibbs swung his boy onto his hip and went to answer the door.

"May I help you?" A young women with brown hair and blue eyes was on the doorstep, holding a large box.

"You must be Mr. Gibbs. And that must be Harry!" Gibbs tightened his hold on his son.

"What do you want?" The woman raised one hand placatingly.

"It's alright! My name is River Dalton, and I need to talk to you about your son and is what happened last week." After staring at the lady for several seconds, Gibbs reluctantly let her in leading her to the newly repaired living room. "Alright, let's' get down to business. Last week, this terrorist," River held up a picture of Ari. "Infiltrated NCIS and attempted to assassinate young Harry in revenge for you killing Qassam. But somehow, Harry and his sitter ended up in a closet when the sniper shot the bullet. I'm here to tell you how they ended up in the closet." Gibbs stared Ms. Dalton but before he could reply Harry spoke up.

"You're very pretty," He said, ducking his head into Gibbs shirt when River smiled at him. Tony certainly would've hit on her.

"Thanks, Harry. Now, why don't you go and color while your dad and I talk?" Harry looked up at Gibbs, who nodded.

"Go on, Har." The little boy jumped down from his father's lap and used his socks to slide over to the table. "How could you possibly know what happened that night? My own team still isn't entirely sure and trust me, we certainly have the motivation." River leaned forward.

"Magic." Gibbs stared at her incredulously before he suddenly stood up and pointed to the front door.

"Okay, I knew I shouldn't have let some lunatic into my home. If you would kindly leave before I force you to-"

"Wait, no look I can prove it to you!" She reached into her boot and pulled out a stick. "This is called a wand. Do you have a box or something that I can use?" The ex-marine looked around before grabbing an old plastic toy tub. "Perfect. Now what is your son's favorite animal?"

"I like lions!" The two adults looked down to find Harry looking up at them with big green eyes. "Are you going to do magic now?" River laughed, nodding her head.

"Yeah I am. Ready?" The four year old nodded eagerly and watched transfixed as she twirled her wand over the box, murmuring words under her breath. Suddenly, the box began to grow and Gibbs instinctively pushed Harry behind him. Seconds later, a lion cub was sitting on the table where the box had been just moments before. Harry squealed and leapt at the cat, and as the two rolled around the floor the agent instinctively scanned the room for trap doors, projectors _anything_ that could explain the lion. Gibbs looked up to see River grinning at him.

"Believe me now?" Gibbs fell back onto the couch with a groan.

"You need to go over everything related with magic right now!" And she did. She talked about schools, history, politics, government, _everything_ and when the cub turned back into a box, Harry reclaimed his spot on his dad's lap and listened and watched just as intently as his father was, as they were introduced to a new world.

River handed Gibbs a stick of books. The top item was a small pamphlet called 'Yes, Magic is Real' and went on to explain the History of magic, a list of different magical schools around the world and a recommended book list to help you adjust to your new world. Next was a thick book called 'Mundane Guide to Wizards', a thin volume titled 'So You Found Out Your child's a Wizard', a good sized book called Magical Heritage, and a complete set of books named Wizarding Starter Books: A Comprehensive Guide to Beginner Magic'. "I would recommend reading these to yourself and to Harry at night. Gibbs snorted.

"Harry's known how to read since he was three. Sometimes I think that he can read better than I can. We've been meaning to get him tested but so much has been happening lately that we've just never had the time." River nodded.

"Okay, you should do that soon. The magic schools over here don't just teach magic, they teach the mundane subjects as well so we need to know where to place him. Now, if Harry is going to go to a school for wizards, we need to know his magic levels." Gibbs eyebrows furrowed.

"Don't all schools teach the same thing?" River shook her head.

"Most schools do, but for the really powerful children who honestly couldn't control their magic any other way go to a school for the gifted, where they basically learn to be warriors. Typically, the kids that have to potential to become mages go there so that if they ever lose control of their emotions, nobody will be hurt." River handed Harry a small ball that flashed different colors. "Okay, I need you to squeeze this ball really tightly, okay?" The boy nodded and his face was comically focused. After a few seconds the colors stopped and she took it from the child and pressed a button that was on the top. Several pages of information popped into existence and River read them so fast, making Gibbs wonder is she was reading them at all. But she was and when she sat it down she looked up with a frown on her face.

"Mr. Gibbs were you aware that your son had some major blocks on his magic?" River shook her head. "Never mind, you just found out he was magical, you couldn't have known. The first block is a standard, rarely used, block for overly powerful magical children. Harry must have been manifesting his magic in the womb or just after birth because it was placed when he was only 9 hours old by a healer at 's, the British Wizarding Hospital."

"The second one seems to be blocking any and all of his special abilities, but unless he took a revealing potion, I can't tell you what abilities he has. And the third one is blocking his elemental power." River sighed. "The next ones concern me a lot. There looks to be one that was meant to damage his ability to learn but it's broken, Harry's own magic probably broke it. But the last one actively blocks any intentional accidental magic except in those instances of very strong emotions, fear for example, which would explain why Harry able to apparate when he was shot at. If you wouldn't mind, could I take a blood sample to see if there are any other problems before I remove the blocks?" Gibbs looked down at his son.

"Would that be alright, Har?" The little boy looked down nervously at his hand, biting his lip.

"Will it hurt?" He asked.

"Only for a second."

"And after you do this I can do magic?" River smiled.

"When you get trained up a bit, absolutely." Harry nodded and held his arm.

"Do it." River pricked his finger and allowed two drops of blood to fall into a small potions bottle. She conjured a bandage and wrapped it tightly around his finger. Harry lifted his hand up to Gibbs, who smiled and kissed it.

"All better!" Harry declared. The adults laughed.

"I'm glad! Now I'll just mix this up." River shook the bottle until it took on a nice dark green in a sharp contrast to the potion's previous bright yellow. "Viola!" She picked up a quill, not usually used in America but was needed for this, and dipped it into the liquid before placing its tip onto a blank sheet of paper. The quill hovered there for several seconds before it began to scribble furiously. "All we have to do now is wait for it to stop." And they did. A few seconds went by with the three just staring at each other, when suddenly Harry burst into giggles, sending everyone else into laughter thanks to his infectious laugh.

They were drawn out of their mirth when the quill flopped down on the page. River picked it up, read the first line, and gasped. She started pacing the length of the room, mumbling under her breath about 'what to do' and that 'he couldn't possibly be…'

Gibbs and Harry shared a look before the four year old jumped up and tugged on the bottom of her skirt.

"What's the matter?"

"You're Harry Potter!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello, Everyone! Guess what? IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS!**

 **School gets out this week, so I will most likely get to update more! YAY!**

 **Anyway, I own neither the Harry Potter nor the NCIS franchises.**

 **Without further ado...**

Chapter Six

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HARRY IS MISSING?" Remus Lupin was normally a very kind, very calm man, but right now he didn't give a damn. His surrogate nephew was nowhere to be found and there was no way in hell he would just sit back and allow him to possibly be hurt because no one was doing anything.

"Yes, I am afraid that it is true. Young Harry has been kidnapped." Dumbledore sat at the head of the table, his hands folded calmly over each other, as if he didn't have a care in the world.

"Then why aren't we out their looking for him? Dumbledore, I already lost James, Lily, Peter, and Sirius, I can't lose him, too!" The old man smiled benignly.

"Remus, the whole point of this meeting was to inform the Order about Harry's disappearance. I want him back where I can keep an eye on him as much as the next person." Remus' eyes flashed amber and suddenly Dumbledore was pushed against the wall. Many rose to their feet in defense of the old professor, intent on stopping the man who had the bearded an pinned against the wall, but one golden seething glare from Remus froze them all in their spots, purely out of fear.

"Is that all he is to you? Nothing more than a weapon?" Remus snarled out, before he closed his glowing amber eyes in an attempt to calm the raging werewolf inside of him, who was prepared to rip whoever dared hurt his cub limb-from-limb. Opening his eyes, Remus walked towards the coat hanger, draping the worn robe around his shoulders before walking to the door.

"And where, exactly, do you think you are going?" Dumbledore's voice was like steal, so cold that several members of the Order stared at him shocked, having never before heard the kindly man speak like that. Remus, paused his hand on the doorknob.

"I am going to find my nephew, whether you like it or not!" And he left.

* * *

Gibbs was confused. First this lady waltzed into his home and convinced the agent that his son had magic, which he still couldn't believe that he believed it. Then she tell him that she know who Harry had been before he had been adopted, something not even Abby had been able to figure out.

"Why is it such a big deal if I was Harry Potter? It's not like I am him anymore, I'm Harry Sage Gibbs!" Harry said proudly, puffing out his chest. River couldn't help but smile down at him despite the raging war inside of her - he was just too adorable.

"It's not that simple, sweetie. There are certain, circumstances, around you that have to be taken into consideration." Gibbs crossed his arms.

"What type of circumstances?" River sighed.

"It'd be best if you sit down; this story is pretty long." They sat down.

"So why is it a big deal if I am Harry Potter?" Harry asked again.

"Remember how the news was always talking about Britain in the 80's and 90's and how people who were healthy one moment wound up dead the next?" Gibbs nodded.

"The American Government was spending a lot of time debating whether or not to send help." River smiled.

"Exactly. But most Americans don't really know what was happening over there. It all started with a mad man named Voldemort, although his real name is Tom Riddle. He went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the 40's. He became obsessed with blood status." At the Gibbs' confused looks River blushed and started explaining. "Sorry, I keep forgetting that you're new to all of this.

"There are four different statuses in the Wizardry world. The first one is pure blood, where you must have a witch and wizard ancestry going back ten generations or more, no mundanes. The second is mundane born, or muggle born. These people come from ordinary families with no magic and just happen to have it. The third is half blood, which Harry and I are. It's where you have a mundane born or mundane and a pure blood as parents. The last is squib. Squibs are the opposite of mundane born. They are born into magical families but they don't have magic themselves." Harry frowned.

"But why should that matter? Aren't we all just basically the same?"

"We know that, but a lot of people in Europe still hold on to the old ideas. Now, Voldemort wanted to kill all mundanes and mundane born, claiming that only pure bloods should be allowed to use magic and everyone else should worship those of a 'more noble bloodline'. In the 80's and 90', he had enough forces to start a killing spree on everyone. Hundreds of magicals were killed and thousands of mundanes were killed. People were terrified that they would come home one day and find a Dark Mark floating over their house, signalling that someone inside was murdered by Death Eaters - which are what Voldemort's followers called themselves.

"Their was a resistance against them, but they weren't having much luck in defeating them." River smiled slightly. "You're parents were a part of that group, and them, along with a couple of their friends, were the ones who did the most damage to Voldemort's cause."

"Why were they failing against killing this Voldemort? I mean surely not everyone over there followed him!" Gibbs said, pulling Harry against his side.

"You have to remember that the wizarding world over there are still decades stuck in the past. Wizards and witches there still use quills and parchment, for heaven's sake! Voldemort was able to gather enough people who thought similarly to him and his ideals that most were just hoping that if they left them alone then Voldemort would leave them and their families alone. The Death Eaters and their Master were actually succeeding in taking over magical Britain. But then a prophecy was made about a boy who could defeat the dark lord. Not many knew about it. The prophecy spoke about a boy born in the end of June, and the only two babies born then were Harry and Neville Longbottom. Both families went into hiding using a spell called the Fidelius Charm, which makes a place, and anything and anyone in it, completely impossible to find.

"But on Halloween, 1991, Voldemort came to the Potter's house after their secret keeper betrayed them. James Potter was killed by a curse that leaves no mark, and is unblockable. Voldemort killed Lily Potter next and it is widely speculated that she gave her life for Harry's which created, for lack of better words, a shield of love around your son. When Voldemort fired the killing curse at Harry, it rebounded and broke Voldemort's powers. After almost two decades of Voldemort's reign of terror, it was finally over. Voldemort was gone thanks to a baby! Harry is praised by the wizarding world as the Boy-Who-Lived." Gibbs sat for several seconds in shocked silence, the information he was just told refusing to make sense. Harry was faring much better.

"So I defeated a really bad guy, but he killed my parents?" He asked, his eyes large and full of innocence.

"Yeah, Harry. You did."

"Are you sure?" River's eyebrows creased at the seemingly simple question.

"Sure about what?"

"That he's gone for good. That I'm the one who defeated him." River chuckled.

"Well, let's say for a second that this blood test was wrong. Harry Potter has a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. Do you have one?" Harry gasped and lifted up his bangs, revealing the afore-mentioned scar. Gibbs frowned.

"You avoided the other question." Both River and Harry looked up at the former marine with confused looks on their faces. "He's not really gone for good, is he?" River sighed.

"No, he's not. The day after we heard about Voldemort's defeat, the American President of Magic sent some of our best curse breakers to Harry's old house. It was mostly destroyed but they found out that when Voldemort's powers broke, his spirit fled the scene. We aren't sure why he didn't die, but he's still out there in a semi-alive state."

"That prophecy you mentioned earlier," Gibbs started. "You said that it said Harry (or this Neville kid) would be able to defeat Voldemort. But if he's not really dead does that mean Harry will have to fight him again?" River frowned.

"Truthfully, I have no idea if Voldemort will ever have enough power to come back. That information is way above my pay grade. But, yes. IF Voldemort comes back, Harry will have to take him down again." Harry snuggled into his dad who wrapped a tight arm around him.

"He doesn't have to do it alone, does he? He's just a kid!"

"No he doesn't have to do it by himself."

"What can I do to help him?"

"You can help us train him."

* * *

Three hours later, Gibbs and River, with occasional input from Harry, had a plan. Until his 5th birthday, which was in about 6 months, Harry would continue to be a normal kid, and River, Harry, and Gibbs would be the only ones who knew who he really was. But on his 5th birthday, Harry would be admitted into the D.C. School for Warriors, its entrance, coincidentally, underneath the Washington Monument. Harry would then spend the next 6 years before he went to Hogwarts (the three decided that Harry would have to go there so that the magical world of Britain wouldn't blow a gasket, but would continue learning over the summer) training in as many forms of magic and mundane studies as he could. While Gibbs showed River to the door, Harry went back to his drawing from earlier. For only being 4 years old, Harry was extremely gifted at drawing. He could honestly be considered a prodigy. The current picture that he was working on was a castle surrounded by a sparkling moat with dragons flying in the sky. Reaching for his glass of milk, he accidentally knocked it over. He cried out and almost instantly the glass from mid air, only seconds away from spilling the liquid all over the floor.

"Daddy!" Gibbs was in the kitchen a moment after his son has screamed, his hand on his gun. When he saw what had Harry so scared, he couldn't help but laugh.

"It's alright, bud. This must be some of the accidental magic River warned us would most likely happen now that you knew you were a wizard." Gibbs grabbed one of the books River had given them and turned to the chapter labeled controlling your magic. "Okay, just imagine the cup floating slowly over to the table." Harry's face screwed up in concentration and slowly - ever so slowly - the cup lowered itself back on to the table.

"I did it!" Harry's eyes lit up, happiness shining through his green orbs. Gibbs smiled.

"Good job, Har!" Watching as his son experimented with his new found magic, lifting the cup up several inches before lowering it back down, Gibbs couldn't help but wonder if he was doing the right thing, by letting Harry venture off into a world that he basically knew nothing about. Well, he thought, magic is real, and if no one is coming back from the future to stop me, then how bad of a decision could it be?

* * *

Gibbs slowly opened his eyes. He had been laying in his bed, peacefully sleeping when he felt someone staring at him from the doorway. Resisting the urge to grab his gun, Jethro leaned over and turned on his lamp before looking towards the front of the room. There stood Harry, his stuffed animals clutched tightly to his chest and his blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Seeing his son's tear- streaked face, Gibbs held out his arms and Harry immediately ran over and buried himself in his father's hold.

"What happened, Greeneyes?" Harry sniffed, rubbing his nose on his father's shirt.

"Bad dream."

"What was it about?"

"At first I was stuck in a closet, and it just kept getting smaller and smaller and smaller." Harry shuddered. "Then then then I was little, again, and I was in a crib. A lady with red hair, almost like Mommy's, but brighter, was there and she was saying stuff that didn't make sense. 'Not Harry. Kill me instead!' I got really scared. There was this scary laugh, and then a really really bright flash of green, and my head started hurting. And then I woke up." Gibbs pulled his son tighter against him, pressing kisses into his hair.

"Hey, it's alright now. I got ya." The two sat there for a while, Gibbs just rocking Harry back and forth as the little boy slowly calmed down. "Why don't you try and get some sleep, bud?" Harry looked up at him fearfully.

"But what if I have bad dreams again?"

"You won't; I'll be here to protect you."

"But what if I do?" Gibbs smiled slightly.

"Just choose not to have nightmares." Harry tilted his head.

"How do I do that?"

"Just repeat after me: I will not have bad dreams."

"I will not have bad dreams." Harry said.

"Good job. Now go to sleep." A few seconds later, Harry looked up groggily.

"Will you sing the song?"

"Sure, Greeneyes." Gibbs took a deep breath and started to sing. _"...Birds fly above you, Love is around you, I would like to be too, Forever, forever and ever, With you…"_

* * *

"Harry, I know you don't feel great but we gotta go. You're coming to work with me today, I know Abby can't wait to see you." Harry, who had previously been pretending to be asleep, shot up like a rocket before his feet got caught up in his blanket and tumbling to the floor. Gibbs held back his laugh as he disentangled his son out of the trap and swung him onto his hip. "Now, bud, how do pancakes for breakfast sound?" Harry nodded eagerly before he was overcome by a bout of sneezes. Gibbs gently rubbed his nose with a tissue. "You got a bad cold, don't you?" Harry nodded.

"Uh huh."

"Well, let's go."

Tony walked into Kate loudly sneezing and coughing. "Wow. What'd you do? Spend the night sake-bombing?" Kate rolled her eyes.

It's a cold, Tony," she said hoarsely before tilting her head. "Sake-bombing?" Tony looked at her incredulously.

"Oh, come on, Kate. Don't tell me you've never heard of sake-bombing?"

"Would I ask if – forget it. I don't want to know." Kate turned back to her work but Tony wasn't done.

"You take a cup of hot sake. You drop it in a beer. You toss it back and – and KA-BOOM!" Kate lifted her hands.

"Sake-bombing." Tony pointed at her.

"Great for a cold."

"I'll stick to honey and hot tea, thanks." Tony looked over at the other member of their team.

McGee, Kate's never been sake-bombing." Tim looked up from where he was sorting through their mail.

"You know, I don't think I have either."

"I work with a pair of wankers." Tony said, sighing.

"And you make three, DiNozzo." Gibbs walked in with Harry in his arms.

"Good morning, Boss!" Tony saw Harry. "And the mini Gibbs is here, too," he said ruffling Harry's hair, causing him to giggle.

"Good morning," Kate said through a stuffy nose. Gibbs looked at her before sitting Harry down on top of his desk.

"Cold or flu?"

"Just plain cold. Don't worry. I will sneeze into my tissues, unlike some people," she said, shooting Tony a glance."

"I have allergies, Kate," he said defensively.

"Never had allergies," Gibbs said, handing Harry a tissue. "Never had a cold." Kate looked at her boss with a disbelieving look.

"You never had a cold?"

"Nope. Never had the flu either."

"Why do I believe that?" Tony leaned over conspiratorially.

"If you were a bug, would you attack Gibbs?"

"I get colds all the time," McGee said, causing DiNozzo to snort.

"Of course you do, Probie." Tim held up a letter.

"This one is just addressed to 'NCIS Special Agent.' " Tony caught a look at the back and reached for the envelope.

"I think that's mine, McGee."

"How do you know?" Tony flipped around the letter.

"I recognize the lips. And the scent." Kate snorted.

"Gummy Bears?" Harry looked up from Gibbs' desk, putting down his sketch book.

"Gummy bears? I love gummy bears!" Tony choked back a laugh, pausing from opening the letter.

"Hey bud come here!" Gibbs looked up as his son jumped down and ran over to Tony.

"DiNozzo, you teach my son anything even remotely bad and I'll head slap you so hard that your head will still be spinning next week."

"Got it boss." Tony pulled Harry next to him. "Now, Har, there will come a point in your life when girls become very important." Gibbs growled.

"DiNozzo…"

"I'm all right, boss." He looked back down at the green eyed boy, who was staring up at him, completely enraptured. "If they ever send you letters that you have no idea who it is from, know that their either the one or a complete stalker that you need to fire a restraining order against." Tony slid open the letter and blue on it. A white powder flew into the air around Tony and Harry, causing Gibbs' heart to stop.

Gibbs stood on top of his desk. "We've opened a letter with white powder. Use the southeast corridor to the holding room. You all know the drill." Kate grabbed two water bottles and through them over to her partner.

"Tony!" She picked up the phone. "Letter opened in Special Agent Gibbs's office dispersed a fine white powder. Initiating bio-attack procedures. Third floor is evacuating." She slammed it down. Not taking his eyes off of Tony, who was pouring water over himself and the confused Harry, he yelled at his other agent.

"McGee, are you up on procedures?" Tim floundered a bit before nodding.

"Yeah, we shower, burn our clothes, get our blood tested. Nobody leaves the building until the substance is identified except…"

"Lucky us, Harry! We win a free trip to Bethesda to be pricked like a pin cushion."

"DiNozzo, stop scaring him!" Gibbs said.

"Got it!" The agents and Harry looked up as a loud crumbling sound echoed through the rooms. Kate started walking away.

"They've shut down the air. Let's hit the showers, Tony!"

"Thought you'd never ask. Sorry, Boss." Ignoring protocol, Gibbs picked up his boy and raced after his agents.

* * *

"Who would send me a letter with anthrax?" Tony asked as he scrubbed himself down.

"Pick a girl, Tony. Any girl."

"It's not funny, Kate." She sighed.

"Yeah, I know."

"This is serious."

"I know, Tony. I'm sorry."

"This very instant somebody is incinerating my Ermenegildo Zegna suit, my Armani tie, my Dolce Gabbana shirt, and my Gucci shoes!" Tony whined. McGee decided to speak up.

"You know, it might not be anthrax." Tony smiled.

"I like the sound of that, Probie." Of course, Tim wasn't always helpful.

"It could be smallpox, bubonic plague, cholera…"

"Probie!" Tony said with an aggravated tone.

"...Foot powder, face powder, talcum powder." Tony snapped his fingers.

"Honey Dust!"

"Honey Dust?"

"Honey Dust," Tony said. "I give it to girls – women, sorry, Kate. I give it to women at Christmastime. Very sensuous. You apply it with a feather."

"You don't use the whole chicken?" Kate joked.

"I never heard of Honey Dust," McGee said.

"Yeah, that's because your mother raised you to respect women, McGee." Tony started to speak up.

"It makes a woman's skin feel-"

"DiNozzo if you want to even have the chance of giving that gift next Christmas, I would advise you not to finish that sentence."

"Ah, sorry, Boss. Forgot that little ears were listening." Gibbs just hummed as he rubbed shampoo into Harry's hair.

"Hey! Doesn't the post office irradiate our mail?" Kate said. McGee clicked his tongue.

"Yeah, that's right. All Federal mail is funneled through the Ion Beam facility in Bridgeport, New Jersey. If it has DNA, it dies." Tony leaned his head out of his stall.

"The diseases that you named, they have DNA?" McGee laughed

"They do." Kate groaned.

"Ah, you should have let him squirm."

"Ha ha," Tony said. "Then it's no worries."

"Unless the post office screwed up again," Gibbs said. He meant to say it in a matter of fact way, but even he could tell that his voice was full of worry. Gibbs sighed, letting the hot water run over him.

Please don't let Harry get sick.

* * *

 **So I have a really really important question to ask y'all:**

 **How many of you guys want Remus to find Harry in America?**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Gibbs held Harry on his lap as Ducky drew the 4 year old's blood. "You should have given the letter to me, McGee."

McGee sighed. "I know, Boss."

"It's not McGee's fault," Kate said, shooting her partner a glare. "Tony snatched it out of his hand." Tony plastered a hurt expression on his face.

"So now it's my bad?"

"You did grab it, Tony."

Tony waved Tim away. "Lame excuse, Probie. You should have stopped me." Gibbs tuned out his agents and looked down at his son. Harry was pale with his nose bright red and his forehead hot. He was definitely running a fever from his cold. Gibbs gently lifted Harry off of his lap and placed him on the autopsy slab before grabbing a mask and heading to the door. Ducky cut him off.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Gibbs tried to get out but the old M.E. blocked his way. "To find out who sent the letter that could possibly kill both my son and my agents!"

"Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah," Ducky said, playing the part of a professional doctor, despite really wanting to go and find the sick bastard himself. You cannot leave autopsy. It's negative pressure so airborne pathogens can not contaminate the rest of the building."

"Ducky, I have been scrubbed, sanitized, for all I know, sterilized!" Gibbs pointed at the automatic door. "I have an investigation to open!"

"And I have a possible contagion to contain. Until your blood test clears you, I cannot permit you to leave this room." Before Gibbs can say another word, the other doors in autopsy slid open and three paramedics walk in.

"Who opened the envelope?"

"He did," Tony said, pointing at McGee, who was immediately surrounded by the doctors.

"No no no! It wasn't me!"

"Just kidding." Tony jumped down from where he had been sitting with Harry. "I'm your pincushion."

The lead medic rounded on the senior agent. "Did you inhale any powder?"

"I might have."

"We took blood," Ducky said, waving over at his assistant. "Jimmy?" The bespectacled man held up a small box.

"Yeah. Four blood vials on ice to go." A doctor move to take the blood when suddenly Kate sneezed loudly, causing the others to stare at her.

"It's a cold. I had it _before_ I came in this morning."

"Which makes you even more susceptible to airborne pathogens," Ducky said. "You should go in the hospital, too."

Gibbs winced. "Duck, Harry's had a cold since since Friday." As if on cue, Harry sneezed. The medical examiner ran a hand over his face.

"I would suggest, Jethro, that our boy goes with Tony and Caitlin, just in case."

Gibbs whirled around to look at the doctor. "He's my son; I want to come with him." The dark haired man shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but I can not allow you to leave here," the doctor said, seemingly oblivious to the slightly hostile stares he was receiving from the team. "It would be best to play it safe by all three of them accompanying me to Bethesda."

"That's safe?" Kate said, snorting. "How long are we going to have to stay in isolation?"

"At least overnight."

Gibbs kissed Harry's forehead. "Hey, bud. I need you to be brave and go with Tony and Kate. Can you do that for me?" Harry nodded.

"Yeah Daddy. I can-" Harry sneezed violently before continuing. "I can do that. I'm a big boy!"

The ex-marine chuckled. "I know you can. I love you."

"I love you, too, Daddy," Harry said, giving Gibbs a big hug and a sloppy kiss on his cheek. Tony tapped him on the shoulder, and, reluctantly, Gibbs handed Harry over to DiNozzo, who effortlessly swung him on to his hip. The two agents nodded at each other, no other words needing to be said. Tony would take care of Harry, as much as a person could when they were faced with a potentially deadly disease, and Gibbs would find the perp who started this whole mess in the first place.

"Can we have double beds because I hate it when you get that crease when you push the two-" Gibbs whacks Tony on the back on his head, effectively cutting him off. "If I get anthrax, how will you feel?"

"Not as bad as you, DiNozzo."

"Let's go," one of the paramedics said, starting to walk out of the door.

Kate her finger at Tony. "I'm warning you, DiNozzo."

"Yeah?"

"I do not feel well. I do not need any of your annoying tendencies today."

Tony laughed. "You need to relax. I have been given the wonderful opportunity of imparting my knowledge of movies, girls, and all things manly on the wonderfully impressionable mind of the son of our very own boss and you don't want me jump at the chance?" Kate glared at him and swatted the shoulder of the arm that wasn't tightly secured around Harry. "Ouch." Tony snapped his fingers. "You need a foot massage. She needs a really good foot massage, doesn't she Har?" Harry giggled before burying his head in Tony's shoulder.

Kate growled. "I don't want you anywhere near my feet. I don't want you touching my feet."

"You don't feel well and I can help cha-" The doors slid shut behind them and Gibbs stared at the glass, hoping that it would open up and the others would come back in, saying that it had all been a joke; that the powder had been something as harmless as flour. But no one came.

Ducky laid a comforting hand on Gibbs' shoulder. "They'll be alright, y'know. Tony and Harry are the only ones who have even a microscopic chance of catching the disease - if it was even a disease in the first place! But even if they do get sick, I'm not worried." Gibbs barely kept himself from scoffing at the thinly concealed lie.

"And why's that, Duck?"

"Because our boys are strong. They won't let some pesky sickness be the thing to finally get them."

* * *

Abby handed the sample of the white powder over to the lieutenant. "So how long to Atlanta?"

He shrugged. "Less than an hour," he said as he started walking out of her lab. "Your music's sweet."

Abby smiled. "So are you." She jumped when one of her machines beeped. "Hoo! Talk to Mama." She cartwheeled over to a monitor and looked at the video feed coming in from autopsy.

"I didn't take you for the cheerleader type, Abby," Gibbs said.

"Oh, I'm not," Abby said. "Grammy taught me that. She was an Olympic swimmer. Won the Silver in the two hundred meter butterfly."

Jimmy looked up at Abby confusedly. "What does swimming have to do with cartwheeling?"

"Nothing."

"I don't understand." Jimmy looked at McGee for help who in turn leaned over and started whispering.

"You can't think logically with Abby. Her mind operates like a pachinko machine."

Jimmy nods and opens his mouth to ask another question, when Gibbs, annoyed by how calm everyone seems to be, speaks up. "What was the powder, Abby?"

"White," she said shrugging. "With a hint of tan."

"Abs!"

"Well, it's all I know until my baby speaks to me. I'm auto-sampling for anthrax, botulism, plague, cholera, all those nasty little bio-buggers."

Gibbs sighed. "How long?"

"A couple hours."

The ex-marine sputtered a bit before regaining control over his words. "I thought you said these tests were fast."

"It's not a pregnancy test, Gibbs."

* * *

"You should drink more water," Tony said to Kate as she came out of the bathroom holding a cup of a dark yellow liquid.

Kate rolled her eyes and handed the sample to the doctor before bending down and picking Harry up. "Tony."

"Your urine's too dark."

Kate looked at him incredulously. "I have a cold. I can't believe you're commenting on my – eeugh!" Harry giggled and stuck his tongue out at Tony, which caused Kate to laugh. There conversation was cut short when a new doctor walked up and introduced himself.

"I'm Doctor Brad Pitt." The two adults looked at him shocked. "Yes, it's my real name and no we're not related. I wish we were. I'd love to meet Angelina Jolie." Kate laughed.

"If I said what he said you would… elbow me," Tony said grimacing.

Kate held out a hand. "I'm Special Agent Kate Todd. This little guy," she said, bouncing the four year old up a bit. "Is Harry Gibbs. And the clown who followed us in here is Tony Dinozzo."

"Very Special Agent Tony DiNozzo," Tony interjected. He reached over and pulled Harry into his arms, causing Kate to glare at him.

"It's very nice to meet you all. I just wish it was under better circumstances," Dr. Pitt said before using his arm to motion down the hallway. "If you would follow me, please, I'll show you where you guys will be staying for the next days."

* * *

After walking a while, the four enter the isolation cube. Harry instinctively tightens his arms around Tony's neck who in returns leans down to whisper in his ear.

"It's alright, Harry. We'll be out of here before you know it."

Dr. Pitt sighed, noticing their expressions. "It's not The Four Seasons, but let's hope you're not here long." They walked over to the doors, which slid open and admitted them into a small room which soon opened into a larger room. The air rushed around and U.V. lights turn on.

"Negative pressure?" Kate guessed.

"Mm-hmm. Air can flow in, but not out. I'd like you to meet Lieutenant Emma Ingham, your duty nurse for tonight." The blonde nurse smiled at them.

"Hi, guys," she said, shaking Tony and Kate's hands, but lightly tickling Harry's stomach causing him to giggle and hide his head in Tony's shoulder. "How are you?" None of them replied.

Doctor Pitt coughed awkwardly before motioning to the tray that Emma had balanced in one hand. "As a precaution, I'm starting your prophylaxis with streptomycin."

Harry lifted his head up, his green eyes shining bright with curiosity. "What's that?"

Kate smiled. "Prophylaxis is a measure taken for the prevention of disease," she said.

Tony snorted. "That's why I use them," he said, causing Emma to laugh and Kate to glare at him.

"Oh, you don't want to encourage him, Lieutenant."

"Sorry. Um… take any beds you want, you guys," Emma said pointing over to the row of five beds.

"Thank you, Nurse Emma," Tony said, going to sit next to Kate.

"But it's prudent to keep some separation in case one of you has been infected," Dr. Pitt interjected, causing Kate to smile.

"Thank you, Doctor!

"It's Brad. We're informal here."

She smiled at him. "Kate." Harry looked up at Tony, his eyes larger than normal.

"Do I have to sit all alone, Tony?" Tony glanced over at Brad who nodded his head.

Tony sighed. "Yeah, bud, I'm sorry but you do. Doctor's orders." Tony leaned over and sat Harry on the bed in the middle of the room before going to sit on the cot closest to the door. He pointed up at the lights that were over each bed. "Are these things sunlamps, Brad?"

The doctor shook his head. "U.V. Kills the bacteria in the air, although I can arrange for a sunlamp if you wish."

"Oh, not for me. It's for Kate."

"What?" Kate said looking at her partner incredulously.

"Yeah, a little nude sunbathing might get rid of those tan lines."

"Doctor, could you put him to sleep, please?" Harry giggled and Kate made a funny face at him.

"Bye Nurse Emma," Tony said flirtatiously as the nurse left the room.

"Bye."

* * *

"Swak?"

"It's sealed with a kiss, Gibbs," Abby said, motioning to the large lipstick stain the lined the envelope, forgetting for a moment that Gibbs couldn't see the letter, only her. "Didn't you ever get a love letter?"

Gibbs through his hands up in the air; they were wasting time! "Does a Dear John count?"

"Ah. I feel sorry for you, Gibbs." Gibbs had to resist the urge to throttle somebody.

"Is there a return address?" He asked.

"Twenty-Seven Old Mill Bottom Road, Annapolis, Maryland."

Gibbs nodded over to the only agent that wasn't currently being examined. "McGee, you got that?"

"Got it. I just wish I had my PDA," the probationary agent said longingly.

"Use Ducky's," Gibbs replied motioning back in the general location of the medical examiner's desk. Palmer walked over and tapped the former marine on the shoulder.

"Uh…uh…Agent Gibbs, Sir, Doctor Mallard doesn't have-"

Gibbs cut him off, bracing his hands on the younger man's shoulders. "Requisition replacement cell phones and weapons for my team," When the bespeckled man didn't move Gibbs pushed him back a bit. "Go!"

"Pistols?" Jimmy asked weakly, making a gun motion with his hand. Gibbs resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"Well no, Palmer. Crossbows if you think they might work better." Gibbs waited until the junior M.E. had left autopsy before turning back to the screen that had Abby's face on it. "Cancelled stamp?"

"Noon yesterday, Annapolis," Abby replied.

"Open it!" Gibbs growled out.

"You know, Normally I'd request a please, but Considering the situation, I know that we are all freaked out and the fact that I want to know who the guy who tried to hurt our family is even more than you do!" Abby continued to rant until she noticed someone was leaning over her shoulder and scanning the now opened letter.

"Oh, beautiful calligraphy," Ducky said, motioning to the inked words.

"Beautiful paper," Abby commented, feeling its thick texture. "It must be...thirty two pound cotton rag."

"Abby," Gibbs cut it, "does that mean you can trace it?" Abby frowned slightly, tilting the letter to get a better look at it.

"The watermark will tell me where it was made, when it was made, and who sold it. The person that sent this…" She looked up and smiled. "Well, they may as well have signed it." Gibbs held back at smile at that and turned his attention to , who was now spouting facts about calligraphy.

"You know, there was a time when every young woman of breeding was taught calligraphy. My mother still tries, but her hand shakes so that even I can't read all her missives."

Gibbs actually did growl this time. "Can you read this missive, Ducky?"

"Oh, yes. It's perfectly legible." The old man began to mumble under his breath, and only looked up when Abby nudged his shoulder.

"Um… I think he means read it out loud."

Ducky smiled, managing to look both sheepish and nervous at the same time. "Oh, sorry. Of course. Uh…" He began to read aloud. "If you are reading this and have not initiated biological attack procedures, I suggest you do so immediately, since the powder dispersed by opening this envelope contains genetically altered…Y. pestis." Ducky and Abby shared a scared look.

"Which is Latin for what?" Gibbs asked.

"Plague!" Gibbs felt as if he had just been doused in a bucket of freezing water. Plauge? No way. The person had to be bluffing. There's no way that Harry would get plague, he just couldn't let it happen. Harry would be fine.

"The powder in that envelope carries bubonic plague?" Gibbs asked, hoping that he had heard the old doctor wrong.

"Pneumonic is more likely," Ducky remarked.

"There's more than one?" Gibbs asked incredulously.

"Oh, there are three, actually. But pneumonic is by far the most dangerous since it can be spread simply by breathing the Y. pestis particles."

Gibbs was sure that the fear coursing through him had rooted him to the spot. "Harry and Tony must have breathed in some of them."

"It may not be alive," Abby said, trying to remain positive, but both men could hear the slight tremor in her voice. "Y. pestis needs a host or moisture for it to survive more than a few hours."

McGee looked up from his pad and pencil. "Plus it was irradiated when it went through the mail, Boss."

Gibbs rolled his eyes. "I got a Honey Dust for Christmas, McGee," He said angrily.

"I'll narrow my test to pneumonic Y. pestis." Abby said as she pushed several buttons on one of her machines. "If I can isolate the strain, then Bethesda can hit it with a specific antibiotic."

"Yeah, well that may not help," Ducky said causing Abby to send him a weak glare.

"You are making it very hard to stay positive." Ducky ignored her.

"It says here, "I have genetically altered the Y. pestis to render it impervious to antimicrobials."

Abby gasped. "That bitch! She created a strain that antibiotics can't whack."

Gibbs sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Ducky, give Bethesda a heads up that their meds won't work." While the M.E walked away to inform the hospital, Gibbs continued talking. "A swak does not mean that this bitch couldn't be a bastard!"

"You're so right, Gibbs. I have this friend who's a transvestite. Her lips could outswak Angelina Jolie's. Remember, McGee? You met her at my birthday party." McGee nodded at the forensic specialists words.

"Yeah, the low-cut red dress with a built-in plastic-" Gibbs whacked the back of McGee's head, effectively shutting him up.

"I saw that, Gibbs," Abby said.

"Read, or you'll feel it."

Abby smiled a bit. "Not while you're down there."

"What?!"

Sensing her boss's slightly hostile feelings (*scoffs* slightly hostile *scoffs again*) Abby decided to move the direction back to the case. "However, there is an antidote." She looked up excitedly. "She made a magic bullet." She hunched over slightly as to get a better angle to read at. "Which if administered within thirty two hours of infection, will eradicate the disease. To procure the antidote, NCIS must make public the true results reported in…Dossier R-Zero Three Seven Seven."

Gibbs snapped his fingers and motioned to McGee. "McGee, pull up the file."

"Yep, Romeo Zero Three Seven Seven. On it, Boss," Tim said as he ran back to Ducky's computer.

"Is that it?" Gibbs asked Abby, who nodded.

"That's all she wrote." She opened up the mouth of envelope in order to see the inside clearer. "It's guilded inside.I can see the swak through – uh-oh." Abby flinched as she used tweezers to pull out a small rectangle. "We have a moisture strip in here." Gibbs sighed in frustration.

"Yeah, keeping the bug alive until the letter is opened."

"I'm afraid so, Gibbs."

"Check the cancelled stamp, Abs! One way to get around postal irradiation – to not use the post office." As Abby scans the stamp, Ducky returns to the lab.

"I spoke with a Doctor Brad Pitt."

Abby looked up shocked. "You're kidding."

"No, that's his name. He made a point to stress that he is not related in any way to the actor."

Abby wrung her hands and began to ramble. "Hey, did you hear when Brad and Jen split up?"

"Abby!" Gibbs yelled through the screen.

"Gibbs, I can't until I can put this under a microscope," Abby said back, eyes watering in frustration. "And I can't do that until NCID gives me approval to irradiate."

"Okau, which will be when?" Gibbs asked impatiently, but made sure to soften his tone.

"The Navy is sending a sample to Atlanta," Abby looked down at her watch. "It should be there… well, now. And then it'll be twelve hours for DNA confirmation."

"Ducky, what's the incubation period?"

"A day at most."

"How long until it kills?" GIbbs asked.

"Well, not very long, I'm afraid," Ducky said frantically. "In the fourteenth century, the novelist Boccaccio wrote that plague victims had lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise."

Gibbs swore quietly under his breath before whirling around to look at his agent. "McGee, where's the file?"

"Boss, I cannot access it from-"

Gibbs through his hands into the air. "Ducky! We're coming up!"

"We've already been through this, Gibbs! You can't!" But Gibbs wasn't listening and was already halfway out of the lab before Ducky even finished talking. Gibbs was sick of losing people and he would be damned if he just sat back and did nothing while his son could be dying.

* * *

Tony lay on his bed with one arm behind his head and the other slowly snapping. "You know what this feels like?"

"I'm afraid to ask," Kate said, groaning into her pillow.

"Like I'm the king of cool."

"Elvis?" Kate could practically hear Tony roll his eyes at her words.

"Elvis was the king of rock and roll. Travolta is the king of cool."

"Well thanks for the clarification," Kate said sarcastically.

"And do you know why I feel like Travolta?"

"I feel a movie coming on."

"The Boy in the Plastic Bubble," Tony said, sitting up. "Travolta plays this boy born with an immune deficiency. This is before AIDS. He lives in this giant plastic bubble." Before Kate can reply, Harry, who had been giggling as he listened to the two agents bicker, suddenly started coughing rather violently.

Both Kate and Tony sprung up from their beds but they were pushed aside by Brad and Emma. Emma helped Harry sit up while Brad used a cloth to first wipe his forehead and then his mouth. Minutes later, Harry stopped coughing, and Tony and Kate allowed themselves to sit back down in their beds. Brad stayed with Harry while Emma went to go and check on the other two. When she got to Tony, he grabbed her arm and pulled her down to him.

"Is he going to be alright?" He asked, both his eyes and his tone serious for once.

Emma sighed. "We aren't sure. The results of the blood tests haven't come back yet so he could either be getting something from the powder of it could simply be his cold from earlier. Until the results come back, we won't know anymore. That's all I can tell you, I'm sorry."

* * *

Ducky paced around Abby's lab. "I cannot believe that Gibbs broke protocol!"

"He didn't," Abby said, smiling.

"He left autopsy," Ducky replied distressingly.

"But not isolation," Abby remarked, motioning to the door where Gibbs and McGee had just come through - wearing bright yellow hazmat suits.

Gibbs grabbed onto Tim. "McGee, you use Abby's computer to access that case file!"

"On it," the MIT graduate replied, going off into another room.

"Okay," Gibbs turned to the forensic scientist. "Abby, pull surveillance videos from the squad room. Everything from twenty three hundred last night when I left until McGee came in this morning."

"You've got to get a life, Gibbs."

"Boss! Boss, I found the file. It's a rape case," McGee yelled, drawing the attention of the other three occupants in the room.

"Get the investigating agent down here," Gibbs said.

"I can't. It was Pacci." Gibbs closed his eyes as memories of all of the bombs in that case. How much damage, the amount of fear that had been caused. He and his team could have died that day if he hadn't asked for the day off to take Harry out. If he had died, Harry would have been put back into the system, at least for a little while. That would not happen this time. Opening his eyes, Gibbs nodded to himself. This time, they were going to end this case before anymore lives are lost. He was going to get the antidote and end what had the potential to start a biological warfare. They would do what they did best and catch the 'bad guys' as Harry called them, before they hurt another person, before they inflicted anymore damage or caused any more fear.

They were going to catch this bastard and show him why you never mess with NCIS and why you never mess with a Gibbs.

* * *

Neither Kate nor Tony were trying to argue with each other, both simply stared at the little body in the middle cot, watching his chest rise and fall steadily. Harry opened his eyes.

"I'm tired," he whimpered and the sound tore into the agents hearts.

"I know bud," Tony said, wishing now more that ever that he would be allowed to go and sit with the four year old. "Just close your eyes and you will be asleep before you know it." Harry nodded and closed his eyes. Several minutes passed before he spoke again.

"Will you tell me a story?" Tony and Kate shared a look before Kate nodded.

"Sure, sweetheart."

"Once upon a time..."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight:

VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

DUE TO IRREGULARITIES IN THE TIMELINE, IT HAS BEEN POINTED OUT THAT YANKEE WHITE WOULD NOT BE CORRECT IN RELATION TO THE YEARS THAT I SAID IT HAPPENED  
BELOW IS THE NEW TIMELINE:

 _ **July 31 2000 - Harry is born**_

 _ **October 31 2001 - James and Lily are killed.**_

 _ **December 19 2001- The Gibbs' adopt Harry**_

 _ **February 28 2003 - Kelly and Shannon are killed.**_

 _ **April 1-ish 2003 - Gibbs joins NCIS (AT THE TIME IT IS NIS)**_

 _ **April 2 - September 22 - An overload of cases occur causing the team to bond faster than they normally would. (bad excuse, I know but hindsight is 20/20 and this is fanfiction so ANYTHINg can happen)**_

 _ **September 23 2003 - Yankee White happens.**_

 _ **November 7 2004 - Bete Noire happens.**_

 **November 21 2004-** _ **See No Evil Happens**_

 **November 30 2004- River comes to visit**

 **September 1 2011 - Harry and CO. go to Hogwarts for their first year**

 **Gibbs would have been around 42 when they adopted Harry.**

 _ **OH AND ONE MORE THING:**_

Does anyone want to be my beta? If so, please PM me and we will talk

 **ShadowWolf's Fables** **-** **You have to take into account that this would be a special circumstance. Normally, yes, doctor's would have to get a parent's consent to treat a child patient, but this is a matter of national security, it could potentially lead to a biological warfare. Also, can you see Gibbs risking Harry's safety just because he wants him near him?**

 **Sunshine72** **\- That's great! I think that you are the first one to have found this fic through another person (that I know of anyway) I hope you and your son love it!**

 **littleelfmom** **-** **I played around with the idea of Harry being immune to diseases or his magic helping him fight it but then I had an idea. Harry already has a cold, so his immune system will be down, making him more susceptible to the plague. And on the issue of his magic protecting him from the disease I was thinking that since wizards and witches don't have muggle diseases such as the plague (they have DragonPox and the like) the plague would react badly to his magic and turn into something very very deadly. River and/or other magicals will be making an appearance. The Ministry of Magic in America is going to help Harry and his family but that's all I'm going to reveal at the moment. Expect attempted kidnappings and the like.**

 **BMS** **\- I hadn't even thought of that - that is a great idea. I don't think that I'll get rid of it completely, probably just a part of it. For now, at least.**

 **city bookworm** **\- I agree, but then half of what I've been planning out won't work.**

 **athenakitty - Be prepared for Gibbs to be completely pissed.**

 **plums - I wanted this case to only be one chapter, honestly, I did, but this is one of the first major things that happen in the series, so no matter how much I would love to just have 20000 word chapters, I'm sad to say that most plot changing plots will span over several chapters, if not the entire book.**

 **hlyarts** **\- I thought about Harry being all upset and crying, but then I felt that this would be more impactful if Harry was calm. Remember how at the beginning of the chapter Harry didn't even want to get up? When he is sick, he just wants to be left alone. And I tried to make it seem as though the more sick Harry got, the quieter he got. And you know you're too emotionally attached when you cry about your characters as you write about them.**

 **Martuki7 - You know, you are pretty smart! You've been one of the first people to figure it out. Cookies to you!**

 **Jh831 - That's what I've been trying to do - but since Harry is really little and not much happens around him yet, I focused more on the adults because I didn't want a time skip so early in the story.**

 **Nashira Kathsris - Hindsight is always 20/20. Now I know that it would have been better to have Gibbs adopt Harry sometime in the first season of Gibbs versus before his wife died, but what's a poor writer to do - at the time it sounded like a good idea. Would you believe me if I said that I have no valid answer as to why the characters are all so close already? Maybe in the few months that they have known each other there was a particularly harrowing case that forced them to come close in a short amount of time? When this story is all said and done I will probably have a lot of one-shots to upload. If you have any ideas for what happened those months I would love to hear them.**

 **Oh, and a note about pairings, while I'm thinking about it. It will most likely be Ziva/Tony, Abby/McGee, H/G, N/L, and R/Hr. Or H/Hr, N/G and R/L. Which one would you guys prefer?**

 **Maybe some RemusTonks, and I'll see if I can find someone for Sirius too – I am open to suggestions, if someone wants to see him with an already established character. If not he will probably be put with an American with OFC. If anyone wants some minor character pairings, let me know and I will try to work it in. Or I might go an entirely different way and have Sirius and Remus end up together - I do love Wolfstar (did you know that's their ship name - isn't it soo cool?!)**

 **Without further ado, please proceed to read this chapter that houses characters that I in no way make money of off or have even the smallest legitimate claim to (unless I created them - then they are my PRECIOUS!)**

Previously on Harry Gibbs:

" _Boss! Boss, I found the file. It's a rape case," McGee yelled, drawing the attention of the other three occupants in the room._

" _Get the investigating agent down here," Gibbs said._

" _I can't. It was Pacci." Gibbs closed his eyes as memories of all of the bombs in that case. How much damage, the amount of fear that had been caused. He and his team could have died that day if he hadn't asked for the day off to take Harry out. If he had died, Harry would have been put back into the system, at least for a little while. That would not happen this time. Opening his eyes, Gibbs nodded to himself. This time, they were going to end this case before anymore lives are lost. He was going to get the antidote and end what had the potential to start a biological warfare. They would do what they did best and catch the 'bad guys' as Harry called them, before they hurt another person, before they inflicted anymore damage or caused any more fear._

 _They were going to catch this bastard and show him why you never mess with NCIS and why you never mess with a Gibbs._

* * *

"Put it up on the plasma, McGee!" Gibbs ordered, whirling around to face his agent.

"Okay!"

Gibbs leaned forward and began to read. "Sarah Lowell. Age twenty one. Senior, Vassar. Raped February tenth, oh-one at the Admiral's Bay Hotel in Annapolis."

Ducky laid a hand on the team leader's hazmat covered shoulder. "Surely you remember the case, Jethro. The maid found the poor girl naked, tied to the bed, some, two days after she was raped."

"Duck, contact Cassie Yates in Norfolk. Tell her what happened. I need her help."

"Yeah, good idea." As Ducky walked away, Abby took the old M.E.'s spot next to Gibbs.

"Gibbs! I thought Cassie was working narcotics suppression."

"Four years ago Cassie was Pacci's probie."

"Oh."

GIbbs turned back to the screen. "The victim was visiting Annapolis to register for an advanced study program at Saint John's. Police had the case for three days before they called us in."

"They found a Navy suspect?" McGee inquired, looking up from the computer.

"A dozen of them," Gibbs said, snorting. "Firsties were partying at the hotel the night of the assault."

"Firsties?" Abby asked

"Academy seniors," the former marine answered. "They'd just got their fleet assignments and… are you scanning?" Abby rolled her eyes.

"Gibbs, I can multitask! I can listen to you. I can scan the video. I can rub my tummy and…" She trailed off as Gibbs interrupted her.

"DNA testing cleared them, closed our investigation."

Abby frowned. "But someone wants it reopened."

"McGee! Call Annapolis P.D. I want their file on this case." Ducky walked back in and all three pairs of eyes turned to face the older man.

"I spoke to Cassie. She remembers the case. She'll be here in fifteen minutes." Gibbs eyes widened slightly and his look turned incredulous.

"From Norfolk?"

Ducky frowned. "No, Anacostia. She's working a drug sting."

"Boss. Boss, I can't call." Gibbs turned around to see McGee motioning to his yellow hazmat suit. "They're not going to be able to hear me." Gibbs looked at him blankly. "I'm going to use the computer."

"Gibbs!" The afore-mentioned man whirled around so fast it was a wonder he didn't get vertigo. "You need to talk to your agents about getting about more. They need lives outside of work, you know." Gibbs rolled his eyes at the young goth's words. "Tony came back around midnight."

Despite the situation, Gibbs couldn't help but cracking a smile. "He does his best work at night."

"So he tells us. Here's Tony leaving. That's Ben the mailboy." Before Gibbs could order _somebody_ to bring him in, Abby shook her head. "He didn't do it."

"Why not?"

"He's a Vegan."

Gibbs shot her an incredulous look. " _Hitler_ was a Vegan."

Abby held up a finger. "Hitler was a vegetarian," she corrected. Big difference. Vegans are so against cruelty they won't even use cosmetics tested on animals."

"Abigail," Ducky said, looking up from the letter, "could Y. pestis be altered to withstand irradiation?"

"No way," said Abby who was shaking her head. "Altered or not, it's still a living organism."

Gibbs frowned. "Could the gilding in the envelope protect it?"

"It would have to be at least ten mils thick. This is barely one." Abby tilted the envelope and looked inside it. Her face paled and she looked up nervously at Gibbs. "Uh-oh."

"Abby, I do not want to hear any more uh-ohs."

"Sorry. But this swak didn't bleed through. There's another one inside."

"Gah!" Gibbs threw his hands into the air before he whirled around and poked Abby on the shoulder. "Get that letter out here where you can examine it!"

"Gibbs, I've told you! I have to wait for Atlanta to-"

"Any doubt it's pneumonic plague?"

"No, but…"

"Then no "buts"! Okay? We're losing time, time that Kate and Tony and H-harry don't have! Kill those bugs! Now!"

* * *

"You're afraid, aren't you?" Kate whispered to Tony, both agents unconsciously mirroring the other's position as they both watched Harry's chest slowly rise and fall, his face relaxed in sleep but his body slightly pinched in pain. Tony scoffed quietly, making sure to keep his voice lowered so as not to wake the sleeping four year old.

"Kate, come on. Me? Afraid? Have you ever seen me afraid?"

Kate sighed. "Well, not when the danger is something that we can confront. But all we can do here is lie around and hope that we're not infected."

"Now who's afraid?" Tony replied, gently teasing her.

"Anyone with half a brain." Kate tilted her head, taking a moment to think over it. "I take it back. You're not afraid."

The room was silent for a few minutes when suddenly Tony spoke up. "You're wrong."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm terrified." Tony pushed himself up on his elbow so that he could see Kate more clearly. "I'm terrified that Harry is going to die. It will be my fault if he does, you know. I was the one who opened the letter. I should never have opened it with him around and if he is hurt it will be all my fault. I don't know what I'm going to do - at the very least Gibbs will take away my ability to have children for putting his kid in danger. I am terrified that I hurt Harry, or you, or Gibbs, or even McGeek by not following procedures when opening that envelope. So don't you dare think that I'm not scared, I am fucking terrified."

Kate's mouth fell open at the end of Tony's monologue. "Look, Tony-"

"Just drop it, Kate," Tony said as he flopped back down onto his bed, letting his arm fall over his eyes. "Harry has the right idea; I'm going to sleep."

* * *

In the observation room outside of the containment center, Dr. Brad Pitt leaned over and talked to his nurse.

"All of the blood cultures came back negative except for two." Brad grimaced as he ran a hand through his hair.

* * *

Gibbs slammed his hand down on the table. "Damn it, Abby! How much longer?'

Abby turned sharply at her boss' voice. "Gibbs! Patience is not your virtue, is it? Look at the plasma."

"Moldy bread?" Gibbs guessed after looking at the picture for several seconds. Abby rolled her eyes.

"It's a Y. pestis microbe from the powder in the letter. This is the Y. pestis as the human race has known it for a half a millennium. The strain of plague we fight with antibiotics."

Gibbs could feel the dread building in his stomach. "The one in the letter has blue tips."

Abby nodded."It's been genetically altered to resist antibiotics. You catch that, you're stuck in the Dark Ages, which personally I wouldn't mind until it killed me." Gibbs frowned.

"This wasn't whipped up in your local meth house."

"No, this took a hot molecular biologist and a big-buck lab to make this bio-weapon." A beep sounded in the room. "Oh, my baby's calling." Abby ran over to another machine. "I ran a mass spec on the swak."

Gibbs' eyebrows creased. "You're analyzing lipstick instead of the letter?"

"Well, I figured anyone who's into calligraphy has got to wear esoteric lipstick. And since all lipsticks are tested by the FDA…"

Gibbs eyes lit up with recognition. "You'll identify the brand."

"Yeah." Abby smirked If it's as rare as I think it is, I can find out who sold it."

"Yeah, that's good thinking, Abs."

Abby smirked and tilted her head towards Gibbs, "What?"

"Good thinking, Abby!" Gibbs said louder. Abby shook her head.

"I don't know, Gibbs! I can't hear you! It must be the helmet head!" Abby reared back, shocked, when Gibbs signed some very not nice things in sign language. She smirked before signing back. "Not nice, Gibbs. Not nice." The smile slipped off her face when This is weird. All the basics are there – wax, oil, eosin dye, titanium dioxide, but they're in such low levels…" Abby blinked, leaning back from the observation cube. "Whoa!"

Gibbs groaned. "What is that?!"

"The reason the Y. pestis survived postal irradiation. Seventy two percent of the lipstick is pure lead. A lead swak on the outside of the envelope. Lead swak in the inside. In between Y. pestis on a moisture pad." She exchanged looks with Gibbs. "This is one smart bitch."

"Wash your mouth out with purple soap."

Both agents whirled around to see a woman dressed in a tight red dress. "Cassie!" Abby ran forward and pulled the other girl into a tight hug before giving her a once over. "Wow, are you suppressing drugs or selling them?"

"I'm working undercover," Cassie explained, rolling her eyes a bit. "Everything I'm wearing is confiscated even the La Perla underwear."

"Nice," Abby remarked appreciatively causing the (slightly) older woman to laugh before turning to look at Gibbs.

"Gibbs! Is that you playing Tella Tubby?" Gibbs grimaced but was saved from replying when Cassie's attention moved from him to the thing that had started this whole thing. "Is this the anthrax letter?"

"No, it's not anthrax," said Abby. "It's plague."

"Thank god. Anthrax scares the hell out of me." She gestured to the box. "May I?"

"Go ahead," Abby said.

"I know this return address," Cassie said. Abby explained that they had traced the address to one of Cassie's previous cases that focused on the rape of a young women. Before Cassie could reply Ducky came in, his face pale and his hands shaking.

"Ducky," Gibbs said, rushing forward as fast as the suit allowed. "Has there been any news?" Ducky sighed.

"Gibbs, all the blood tests came back negative-" Gibbs let out a breath he didn't know that he had been holding before he tore off the suit, letting it fall down to the floor in a pile.

"That's great! So I can go and get Harry now?" DUcky winced at Gibbs' words.

"Gibbs," the older man began. "All the blood tests came back negative _except_ for Tony's… and Harry's…" Abby's hands flew to her mouth

Gibbs felt numb. "You're wrong, Ducky."

"Gibbs," Ducky said , reaching out to place a hand on his friend's shoulder but Gibbs shoved his hand off and stumbled back a few steps. Abby moved forward, as if to try and hug him but Cassie pulled her back, shaking her head slightly.

"Harry is _not_ sick!" Gibbs said, raising his voice until he was almost shouting. "He can't be. I promised. I promised that I would protect him!" Gibbs vision spun out of focus and slowly the people and the room around him disappeared. This wasn't the truth - it couldn't be the truth. Harry was only four years old, he should be eating animal crackers and drawing pictures, not getting infected with a plague that hasn't been seen in a century! And Tony! Gibbs hadn't known him for as long as it felt he had known him, but he cared for the younger agent. He had lost too many people already in his life - he wasn't able to lose more. He couldn't lose any more people! No, no, no, no -

 **SMACK!**

Gibbs' head shot to the side and the room instantly became focused. Somehow he had ended up on the floor, but that wasn't his biggest problem.

Abby was bent over him, her hand raised and her eyes flashing.

Gibbs gently touched where she had slapped him and winced - it was gonna bruise (who knew that she could hit so hard?)

"Alright," Abby began, placing her hands on her hips. "You have had your chance to freak out. You're done, okay? It's time to get up off your ass and go and find the bastard - or bitch - who did this. You aren't helping Harry or Tony by wallowing in self pity on the ground. So get up and let's go!" Abby finished waving her finger in the air. Gibbs blinked twice and was about to respond when she continued with, "Don't make me smack you again."

Gibbs nodded, pushed himself off of the floor and to his feet and turned to face Ducky. ARe they sick yet?"

Ducky sighed again. "Tony hasn't showed an outward signs yet. But the doctor says his temperature is elevating. The Y. pestis is attacking his pulmonary system." The M.E. ran a hand down his face. "Harry's temperature is approaching 100 degrees and the doctor's say that he experiences sharp flashes of pain every once in awhile, centered around his chest and head. Normally, a victim of this strain of plague lives for 32 hours after being infected. Tony is following the schedule as much as can be expected with a disease that is as unpredictable as this one, but Harry is experiencing symptoms all over the place, some not even documented as being related to what he has."

Abby said, "Maybe it's because he is much smaller and younger than Tony - it has to affect him differently, right?"

Ducky shook his head. "He should have the same symptoms as Tony but his body is just reacting differently."

"How far are we into this thirty-two hour window?" Cassie asked.

"Too far," Ducky said. "If the disease acts as we expect it to, they will begin coughing soon. When their sputum becomes bloody, they'll only have a few hours to live."

Gibbs growled. "Abby, get that damn letter out of there!"

"I'm getting it."

Cassie shook her head. "This is too easy, Gibbs. Custom paper and calligraphy that's traceable. A gene-altering bio-attack."

"Do you know who sent it?" Gibbs asked, hoping that they could find this person and get that antidote before this escalates anymore than it has. 'Before Harry gets even more sick,' a voice whispered in the back of his head. Gibbs ignored it, even though he knew that it was right.

"No, but I know who they want us to think sent it."

* * *

Harry didn't want to be here anymore. The clear room was scary. He just wanted Daddy to come and take him back home where they would draw and sing songs and tell stories. Uncle Tony and Aunt Kate didn't tell as good of a story as Daddy did, but Harry knew that they tried. Harry just wanted to go home.

Dr. Brad and Nurse Emma rolled in a metal table that had the pieces of an I.V. on them.

Tony eyed them warily. "Bedtime snack, Brad?"

The doctor just smiled. "Oh, IV drip increases the efficacy of streptomycin."

"Well, then hook me up," Tony said as he held up an arm.

"No!" Both men's heads shot to the side where the saw Emma struggling to hook Harry up to his I.V.. "No, no, no, no needles! Daddy's not here, no needles!" Tears of frustration ran down Harry's face, which was slowly turning red. His hands started to shake and suddenly the bag of liquid medicine exploded, making a mess all over the floor. Emma gasped as Harry fell back on the bed and started to shake, as if he was having a seizure.

"Brad!" Emma called, and he placed Tony's I.V. down on the table before rushing to Harry's side. Kate and Tony exchanged looks before they both stood up and ran to the only other occupied bed, the latter having a bit more trouble than the former of getting off of the bed. The two doctors were crowded around Harry's bed but the NCIS agents still had plenty room to see the thrashing boy on the bed. Brad was holding down his arms and legs while Emma was keeping Harry's head still. Kate grabbed Tony's hand and for once he didn't make a comment like he normally would have - he was just as scared as she was.

Suddenly Harry's body stopped shaking and he lay limp on the cot. Emma checked for a pulse and let out a breath. "He's breathing but his heart beat is slow - we need to get an I.V. in him and hook him up to some monitoring machines." She shot the two agents a look. "Tony, you need to get back in bed. Kate, I have to ask you to leave." The two mentioned exchanged looks.

"You mean, I'm not sick?" Kate asked slowly.

"Not beyond your cold, no. Your blood test came back negative."

"But mine was positive," Tony said, swaying a bit on his feet. "And so was Harry's." He looked down at Harry who looked all too small in the bed meant for an adult. His face was covered in a thin layer of sweat and even in the sleep like state he was in he would wince in pain every once in awhile. This shouldn't have happened.

He was the one who opened that stupid letter - he was the only one who should have gotten sick! Damn it, Harry was too good, too young, too _pure_ , to get this, this, this whatever they had.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Tony mumbled before his body went limp and he collapsed. His mind registered Kate catching him by his arm before he would've landed head first on the hard floor, but that didn't seem to matter. Harry was sick because of _him_. HE caused this beautiful, smart little boy to catch something that might kill him. What had he done?

* * *

Tony wasn't sure how much time had passed since his mind shut down, but the next thing he knew, he was back lying on his previous bed, an I.V. hooked into his left arm and a heart monitor beeping steadily beside him. He blinked and rubbed at his eyes, looking blearily around the isolation room.

"What the hell happened?"

"You freaked out and collapsed, that's what happened." Tony looked up and saw a scowling Kate standing next to him, a white mask around her lower face.

"You would've - " Tony coughed into his hand. " - would've done the same."

Kate didn't respond and Doctor Pitt (~Brad~) walked over to check on Tony's I.V.

"So tell me,," Tony began. "What have I got?"

Brad let out a sigh. "Pneumonic plague."

"Plague?" A beat passed during which Tony was hoping that someone would tell him that 'no, it was only the flu, no need to worry', but no one did. "Plague." Tony felt his heart sink.

"Yeah, Tony. Plague!" Kate croaked out, slightly hysterical. "Because only you would go off and get a disease from the Dark Ages!" She glanced at the bed at the other side of the room. "And give it to another person as well," she finished, whispering.

A pregnant silence fell over the group and after he had made sure that the medicine was working as good as it could, Brad began to walk away before he stopped, and then turned around.

"This strain has been genetically altered to resist antibiotics. Do you realize what that means?"

Kate and Tony exchanged a look. "Then the IV in Harry's and Tony's arms are useless. So why do it?"

"Well, it can't hurt." Brad paused. "And it gives them…"

"Hope," Kate finished.

"It's the only thing stronger than fear," Brad said. "I'm hoping that you both survive this."

"I'm hoping that Harry does," Tony said, grimacing as a particularly wet cough wrenched itself from his throat. "'Cause if he doesn't, and I do, then I'm as good as dead because Gibbs is gonna kill me."

Kate watched as the doctor walked away and thought that it wasn't worth mentioning that if Harry died and Tony lived, she didn't think that he would be able to live with himself.

Then Gibbs wouldn't need to kill him.

* * *

Gibbs glared up at the huge glass building, hating it already. This was the place that some guy cooked up the disease that was infecting one of his agents and his son.

Seeing as Cassie wasn't stopping to glare at inanimate objects, he walked in as well.

Cassie cast him a side glance. "How do you want to handle this?"

"Subtle approach." Gibbs said, grinning maliciously. "You serve the warrant. I'll shove my Sig in her face," he finished, patting the holster that rested on his waist. Cassie rolled her eyes.

"Gibbs, Hannah Lowell has been arrested at more protests than Jesse Jackson. She won't be intimidated."

Gibbs nodded and tilted his head as if he was thinking particularly hard. "Okay, then I'll shoot her and then I'll go after whoever made the damn bug for her."

"You're not going to kill her.

"I said shoot, not kill."

"There are dozens of microbiologists here. It would take days to interrogate them. The boys don't have days," Cassie said meaningfully.

Gibbs ignored her.

"Do you know where her office is or should I ask the receptionist?"

Cassie sighed before pointing up. "Boss always has the top floor office."

Gibbs noticed the receptionist motioning to a guard but didn't think much of it until said officer approached them raising his hands in a placating manner.

"Excuse me." The pair of agents ignored him and kept walking. "Excuse me." Cassie stopped and turned, and, grudgingly, Gibbs did so a second later. "You have to check-in with the receptionist. Do you have an appointment?"

"No. We have a federal warrant," Gibbs snarled out, before turning back around and going into the elevator.

Cassie had already pushed the button for the top floor and the two rode the way up in tense silence. When the elevator doors opened, Gibbs stormed out and went directly into the only office. A woman sat in a chair behind a desk, hands folded over each other.

"It's about time you got here," The woman, Hannah said, uncrossing her hands. "I left enough cookie crumbs."

Gibbs glared at her. "You left more than cookie crumbs, lady." sighed.

"I regret I resorted to such a dramatic act, but you people at NCIS left me no choice when you lied to protect the Academy. Now, you admit that a Midshipman raped my daughter and this will all be over."

"The DNA testing cleared -" Cassie began, only to be interrupted.

"Oh, stop it," Hannah said. "I know how easy it is to dope a DNA test."

"You love dramatic acts."

Hannah shrugged. "They can be very effective."

Gibbs gripped the front of the desk, his knuckles turning white. "The effect of this one is going to imprison you for life." Hannah cocked her head.

"That long, hmm?" Gibbs narrowed his eyes at her words.

"You're dying."

"Rather rapidly." Hannah smiled. "Which makes incarceration highly unlikely." She pressed her hands into the desk and rose to her feet. "My daughter never recovered from the horror of that weekend. The truth will help her heal. Please! Please, give it to her. You won't get that antidote until that Midshipman comes-"

"We don't need it," Gibbs interrupted, his own words slicing a knife through his heart because they did need it, he needed it badly, because Harry - and Tony - needed it. "The post office went postal on your plaque. Zapped it right through the lead swak. No one was infected."

Hannah fell back in her chair before glaring up at Gibbs. "Oh, I don't believe you." Gibbs slammed his hand down on her desk.

"I don't give a damn whether you believe me or not. You are under arrest for a biological attack on a Federal agency." He turned to Cassie. "Take her to interrogation." He looked around the room. "I'll wait here for the task force to arrest the others."

As Cassie began to tell her her rights, Hannah freaked out, looking wildly around the room. "There are no others. I acted alone."

"You are not a microbiologist."

"I stole the Y. pestis!" Hannah shouted. "Doctor Pandy doesn't even know it's missing."

Gibbs swung around and ran out the door, stopping at the receptionist's office. "Where's Doctor Pandy's lab?"

"North wing, ground floor, B-L-Alpha," the receptionist stuttered out, rising to her feet. "But you need authorization to enter the North wing!"

"Someone was infected," Hannah said, smirking. "I hope they die."

Gibbs froze before turning around and marching over to Hannah. "If they die, I don't care if you are already dying, I will kill you myself."

* * *

Gibbs held his gun against the glass, pointing it at the man in the lab coat within. "Where is the antidote?"

"There is no antidote," Dr. Pandy said, his voice wavering as he held his hands out in front of him. "I developed a vaccine, not an antidote. It's of no use once the victim is infected. Hannah misunderstood."

"She understood," Gibbs growled out.

"No, it's the brain tumor." Gibbs filed the doctor's words away in his mind, but he didn't say anything, allowing the other man to continue speaking. "t's inoperable, obviously affecting her mind. Why else would a woman who fought to ban biological weapons use them?"

"Why is Lowell Pharmaceutical making them?"

"We're not."

Gibbs glared at him. "You didn't create this beast?"

"Yes! But only to develop a defense against it. Antibiotic resistant diseases are potential terrorist weapons."

"A terrorist isn't killing people with this, you are!"

"I understand your anger-"

"No, you don't!" Gibbs brandished his gun at the doctor. "But if you don't save them, you will."

"It has a suicide gene that stops it from replicating after thirty two hours….as a security precaution."

"It dies?"

"Yes."

"It's dead now?"

"If it's over thirty two hours since the specimen has been infected, all of the Y. pestis is dead." Gibbs began to lower his gun. "However, the damage will have been done." Gibbs raised his gun again.

"The specimen is going to die?!"

"No. No, not necessarily. They have the same chance of survival as those infected in plagues of the past, probably better since they will be healthy and young."

"What was the survival rate of the past?"

"People were weakened by depleted crops, bad nutrition-

"Damn it!" Gibbs cocked the gun. "What was the survival rate?!"

Doctor Pandy sighed. "Fifteen percent."

* * *

Ducky walked into the large room that housed the isolation cube. He went over to Brad and stood next to him, looking at the two boys in the beds. Tony was lying still on the bed closest to the door, a blonde nurse wiping at his mouth after he finished his latest bout of coughing. Kate was next to Harry, hovering as if she wasn't sure what to do. Harry looked worse than Tony did. HE was lying on his back a thin sheet pulled over his legs. His face was pale, and small spasms wracked his body every few seconds.

"It looks like pneumonia," Ducky whispered.

"Worse, I'm afraid," Brad said. "They are showing signs of cyanosis. Their fingernails and lips are going blue."

"The Y. pestis is starving their bodies of oxygen." Ducky cast the doctor a look. "It's too late to reverse, isn't it?"

"It's never too late."

"Until I get the body," Ducky remarked, a dark look crossing his face.

The two doctor's attention was drawn to Tony when he a particularly horrible bout of coughing wracked his body.

"Tony! Tony! Sit up!" Kate said rushing to his side.

Harry started to shake seconds later, and Doctor Pitt ran in to try and still him.

"Kate, you should leave. Now!"

Kate stumbled out of isolation. Ducky caught her right before she fell.

"You were brave to stay with them, Kate." She cried into the older man's shoulder.

"They're dying, Ducky!"

Gibbs stormed past them, pushing them gently to the side. "Not on my watch." He walked into the isolation room.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Brad said. "Who the hell are you?"

Gibbs glared at him. "I'm Tony's boss. And more importantly, Harry's father."

"Still, I can't permit you to come in -"

"The bug has a suicide gene," Gibbs said, cutting the doctor off. "It's dead. It's been dead for over an hour. They are no longer infectious." Gibbs stopped at Tony's bed, even though his entire body was aching to go be with his son.

"Tony, listen to me." Gibbs crouched down to his agent's ear. "Are you listening?"

Tony gasped weakly. "I'm listening." He coughed loudly. "I'm listening, Boss."

"You will not die, you got that?" Gibbs whispered. "I said, you will not die." He reached up and lightly tapped the top of Tony's head.

"Okay, I got you, Boss."

"Good."

Gibbs turned away from the other man, walking down to the other side of the room, where a too small figure laid on a too small bed. He grabbed the closest chair and pulled it up to the bed's side, getting as close as he could without being on the mattress itself.

Harry was laying completely still on the bed, his fingers twitching. His body wracked with spasms every few minutes, and he coughed up blood with every movement.

Gibbs reached forward and ran his hands through his son's sweaty hair, using his other hand to damp at his forehead with a towel. Harry's nose crinkled up and despite the situation, Gibbs smiled.

Shannon had always said that a sick Harry always made the cutest expressions. His nose would crinkle when he coughed, his cheeks would puff out a bit when he sneezed.

What would she think of Gibbs now, after he had let their boy catch the plague?

Suddenly flames sprouted in Harry's hand, and Gibbs fell back out of his chair in shock. The others looked over as to see what was wrong and gasped when they saw the flames licking Harry's arms. Gibbs grabbed the cup of water that was next to the bed and gently poured it over Harry. The fire slowly went out, and, reluctantly, he turned to face the others (minus Tony, who was currently asleep.)

"What the hell was that?" Brad said, careful to keep his voice low so as not to wake up his patients.

"There's more going on here than any of us can understand," Gibbs said. "But I know who can help."

* * *

Gibbs pulled out his wallet and grabbed the small stone that resided in it. River had given him it and told him to throw it at his feet if he needed her for anything magical related. Feeling incredibly foolish, he tossed the stone down. The small rock glowed blue for a second before it sunk into the pavement. A minute later, a loud CRACK filled the air, and all of a sudden River was standing next to him.

"You rang?" She said, jokingly. "Hey, where's the little man?" She asked, looking around.

"Come with me," Gibbs said before walking back into the building. River followed, albeit with a confused expression.

When the two got back into the isolation room, River stopped and grabbed Gibbs by the arm.

"Alright, what is happening?"

Gibbs sighed. "Harry (and one of my agents) caught a plague that resists antibiotics because an idiotic woman decided to go on a killing rampage because her brain tumor made her lose her morality. Now, Harry's ma- um you know," Gibbs said, dancing around the word magic, " is acting crazy. So I called you."

River ran a hand down her face, and glanced at the other people in the room. The two doctors were sitting in front of a control panel, talking in hushed tones. "These other people," she said, gesturing to Kate, the now awake - but groggy and confused - Tony, Ducky, McGee and Abby (the last two who had left work as soon as they were allowed to leave so they could be here for Tony and Harry). "Do you trust them?"

Gibbs looked around. "With my life." He paused, and then looked behind him. "I'd trust them with Harry's."

River nodded. "Okay." She flicked her wrist and her wand shot into her hand. She waved it over at the doctors and they immediately slumped down, fast asleep.

"Alright so, hello! My name is River Dalton. I am a witch. Harry is a wizard. In case you don't believe me, I just made two adults fall asleep with a wave of my wand. If you still don't believe me, I don't really have time to convince you so you'll just have to trust me!" She looked down the room. "I have to go and see what's wrong with Harry. You may converse amongst yourselves." With that, she walked to the other side of the isolation cube, only stopping at Harry's bed. The others turned to Gibbs.

"What just happened?" McGee asked.

"Honestly, Timothy," Ducky said. "It's quite self explanatory. Ms. Dalton is a witch, magic, wands, brooms, all of that, and Harry is a wizard. They both have magic, and Ms. Dalton is going to see if there is anything she can do to help Harry."

Gibbs looked at the older man, shocked. "How did you know all that, Duck?"

Ducky smiled, sheepishly. "Mother and I are squibs," he said.

River knelt near Harry's head. Raising her wand, she carried it over his body, murmuring a spell under her breath. A light fog appeared over Harry before turning a dark red. River grimaced.

"Why is he worse than Tony?" Gibbs asked.

River sighed. "Normally, in instances where a wizard catches a deadly mundane disease, their magic usually works together with the medicine to fight off the sickness twice as fast. In Harry's case," she said, waving her hand, "something is keeping his magic from fighting against the plague. It's tearing down his natural defenses." She frowned. "If it doesn't stop then Harry will die."

* * *

IN HARRY'S MIND

Harry wasn't sure where he was. The last thing he remembered was being with Uncle Tony and Aunt Kate in the plastic room. Standing up, he began to take in his surroundings.

He was standing in what appeared to be a large field. Small purple flowers decorated the ground fading away when they reached the sand that was around a large lake. In the distance, he was sure that he saw his castle - the one he had drawn only a couple days ago. Before he could make his way over to the building, the silhouette of a large figure, at least as big as Daddy, caught his eye.

"Daddy?" He called.

There was no reply.

"Uncle Tony?"

Nothing.

"Aunt Kate? Tim? Aunt Abby?"

The figure suddenly appeared right in front of him, and Harry screamed, falling back on his bottom.

The figure was a man. He had brown hair, pale skin, and red eyes. He bent down to Harry's level, a concerned look on his face.

"Are you okay?" Slowly, Harry nodded, reaching up to grab the hand that was extended to him.

"Who who are you?" Harry asked, stuttering a bit.

"My name is Tom."

"I'm Harry." Harry said, smiling up at Tom. "Harry Gibbs. Do you know where we are?"

"I haven't the slightest idea. But I can find out." Tom pulled out a piece of wood and Harry's eyes lit up.

"That's a wand! Are you a wizard? I'm a wizard, too!"

Tom smiled. "Of course I'm a wizard, Harry. All the best people are."

Harry scrunched up his nose. "But my daddy isn't a wizard, and he's the best daddy in the world!"

Tom looked like he wanted to say more but he just smiled. "Of course he is." Tom waved his wand and the tip turned blue for a second. "Hmmm… strange."

Harry looked up. "What's strange?"

"We aren't anywhere. We are existing in a place that isn't real." Tom frowned and Harry, mimicking the older man, frowned as well.

"Curiouser and curiouser," Harry said, quoting the book Gibbs had read for his bedtime story a few days ago.

"Yes," Tom said. "It really is." He glanced down at the young boy. "Since you're a wizard, will you show me some of the spells you know?"

Harry blushed. "I haven't actually gotten to learn anything yet. I'm only four."

Tom gasped dramatically. "Well we can't have that! I shall teach you immediately!"

Harry smiled. "Really?"

"Really."

The two continued walking until they were standing next to the pond. "Water," Tom began, "Is the hardest element to control. It is constantly churning constantly moving, and it is rarely in the same place twice. Because of this we will start with it." Tom knelt down and grabbed Harry's hand.

"Your magic comes from inside you; it's a part of you very being. You don't really need any instrument to use that magic, but the wizards of Europe are lazy and chose to bind themselves to a piece of wood. Force the magic out through your hand and then bend it to your will. If you want to make a water castle appear, then you have to be stronger than your magic so that it will carve the water for you. Understand?"

Slowly, Harry nodded. "I think so."

Tom pushed himself up and took a step back. "Then go ahead."

Harry, his face scrunched up in concentration, stared at his hands. They seemed small to him - they couldn't possibly be anything special about them. But Tom said it was possible so it must have been. Harry tried to force magic out of his hands, he really did, but no matter how much he tried, nothing happened before the occasional twitch of his fingers, which he doubted was magical.

"Why isn't it working," Harry whined. He yelped when a sharp slap landed on his head.

"Do not whine. Do not fail. If you can not even conquer water, how are you going to do anything else in this world." Tom sighed. "I don't know why I expected anything more of the incompetent son of a mudblood."

Harry, who had been folding in on himself because of the hurtful words thrown his way, suddenly felt something hot ignite in his chest. No one was allowed to insult his daddy.

"Don't call my daddy names, it isn't nice!" Harry screamed. "I'm little, I can't be expected to get everything right the first time! I don't think you did it perfectly your first time either!"

Tom bowed his head. "Look," he said, pointing behind the four year old.

Harry turned towards the water and gaped. A large ball of liquid floated over the now half-empty lake. Even as he watched, the water started to bend and twist, until, finally, a water castle appeared, complete with spires and battlements. Harry's eyes widened and he turned back to the older man. "I did it!"

"Yes, you did, Harry!" Tom praised, the cruel version of the man who had insulted Harry completely gone. "Now try to change it's form."

Harry complied, but even as the water changed to whatever he wished it to become, whether it was a roller coaster, a merry go round, or a spaceship, it felt _wrong,_ somehow. He could feel his magic now, that wasn't the problem. But it wasn't how it should have been - how Harry knew that, he didn't have the slightest idea. He did know that this wasn't how magic was supposed to be used.

He turned back to Tom, with a confused expression on his face. "It doesn't feel right."

Tom just smiled indulgently at him. "Of course it doesn't, Harry; you're just starting to use your magic - it's not natural to you yet." He walked up and placed his hands on the boy's shoulders, his grip just a bit too tight to be comforting. "Now," he said. "How about I show you some more tricks?"

Harry nodded, slowly, and his hesitance, the tingling feeling that something was wrong, ebbed away, until it was only a nagging sensation in the back of his mind. "Okay," he said, reaching out and taking the hand Tom offered him.

The two walked until they were back in the field Harry had woken up in. Tom sat down in the grass and patted the spot next to him. Harry sat down and crossed his legs, rocking slightly back and forth. "What are you gonna do next?" Harry asked, eagerly.

Tom smiled and held up his hand, his fingers clenched in a fist. Slowly he opened them and, to Harry's shock, flames licked around the palm of Tom's hand.

"Woah…" Harry whispered, leaning forward until he was on his knees. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"Why would it?" Tom asked, allowing the flames to travel all the way up his arm until the entire limb was encased in bright light.

"Well, my daddy says that fire is good when you can control it, but if it gets out of control it can be dangerous - it could even kill people!"

"Harry, Harry, Harry," Tom said, shaking his head patronizingly. "We are wizards! Things that kill those that do not have powers like we do, can't touch us. We are better than them! They can not," Tom looked down at the flames that raced across his skin, "hold a candle to the things that we can do." Harry's brow creased - that didn't make sense to him, no one was any better than anyone else. But before he could say anything, Tom said, "Now you try."

Harry looked at him, skeptically. "Tom, I don't think that I can-"

"Don't"," Tom said, letting the fire go out. "Don't say that you can't do it. You're a wizard - you can do anything you put your mind to." Tom leaned forward, causing Harry to lean back. "Now, do it."

Harry shivered, suddenly cold. "O-okay." He looked down at his hands and tried to get fire to appear on them, just like it had for Tom. It didn't work. He tried to make the feeling appear like it had when he had made the water change but he couldn't. He tried to force it out, like Tom had told him, and he could feel the magic. It was bubbling just under the surface, he knew it was there, but nothing he did could make it come out.

"I can't do it!" He cried out, looking back up at the older man. Tom glowered down at him and Harry swear he growled at him.

"You worthless little boy!" Tom shouted, drawing his wand. "You are a disgrace to wizardkind! If you can't even do a simple fire spell, then how could you ever amount to anything?" He flicked his wand, and Harry winced, his face feeling like it had been slapped.

Tears started to roll down Harry's face, and he looked up in time to block the blow that would have landed squarely against his face. Crossing his arms over his body, he screamed.

But no pain came. Harry opened his eyes and saw that fire was licking across his hands and that Tom had disappeared. Harry lowered his hands, and to his dismay, the flames refused to go out. He tried to put it out but it spread down from his fingertips and onto the grass he had been sitting on.

"Help!" Harry screamed, stumbling back several feet. "Please, somebody help me!"

"Here!" A voice yelled and Harry whirled around to see Tom standing on a far away hill. Harry could have cried in relief. He ran as fast as he could and suddenly he was beside the older wizard.

Tom bent down and grasped Harry tightly. "Are you okay?" Harry nodded, despite the fact that tears were still rolling down his cheeks and he was shaking. "Good - it will make this so much easier." Tom shoved Harry back and a cage appeared around the younger boy.

Harry slammed into the bars and his small hands wrapped around the metal. "T-Tom, what are you doing?"

Tom smiled, the skin on his face pulling too tight for it to be natural. "You see, dear Harry. This is your world, not mine. I'm going to kill you, and take over, so that once again, the universe shall tremble at the mere mention of my name." He began to walk away, before he stopped and looked over his shoulder. "You seem a bit cold." He raised his wand. "Here, let me remedy that." Tom waved the piece of wood and the flames that Harry had created multiplied, coming up to reach the top of the hill, only inches from Harry. "Goodbye, Harry Potter." Tom took a few steps away and disappeared.

Only later would Harry wonder why he knew his last name - a name that he rarely ever used.

But at the moment, Harry was a bit too terrified to figure that out.

The fire was rising, and soon it was biting at Harry's ankles. While the fire he had created didn't hurt him, the flames Tom made _burned_.

"Please," Harry sobbed, hands clenched around the bars. "Please, come back! I'll be good - I promise! I'll do the spells right the first time! Just please, let me out!"

No one came back this time.

Harry backed around from the bars and sat down in the middle of the cage, his legs pulled against his chest. "Please," he whispered. "Don't leave me here."

* * *

River slipped off her jacket and slung it over a nearby bed before turning to Gibbs and the others, all of whom had questioned Ducky enough that they had at least and idea as to who she is.

"I'm going to need to enter his mind," she said, keeping her eyes focused on Gibbs. "Whatever is hurting him is internal and he can't deal with it alone. I need your consent to perform legilimency on him." Gibbs' eyebrows scrunched up.

"Will it hurt him?"

"It might," River replied. "Everyone reacts to legilimency differently, so I couldn't give you a definite answer. But I can tell you this," she said, taking a step closer to the older man. "If I don't help him, Harry will either die or be stuck like this forever."

Gibbs closed his eyes. Possibly cause his son pain or lose him to his own mind. He opened his eyes. "You have my permission to use legilimency." River nodded and moved to sit in front of Harry. Abby leaned over to Gibbs.

"What is legilimency?" She whispered.

"I don't know," Gibbs replied. "But I'm trusting that River isn't about to kill my boy."

That caused the others to pause in their whispered questions to Ducky and to look over at the only magical woman in the room.

River had leaned forward and placed her hands on Harry's forehead. "Alright, Harry," she said. "Please don't kick me out." She closed her eyes, and suddenly both bodies (River's and Harry's) lurched back and smoked a bit before going still.

Gibbs turned to Ducky. "What did she do?"

"I'm not sure."

* * *

IN HARRY'S MIND

River appeared in an inferno. She looked around wildly, hoping to get a glimpse of Harry, but the flames were too tall and the smoke was too thick. "Harry!" She screamed.

There was no reply. "Where are you?" she whispered to herself.

* * *

Harry was terrified. The fire was getting closer; it was almost taller than him, and no one had come to save him yet. He had tried to get out, but the bars were too thick and nothing he did broke them. Tears streamed down his face as he tried to get away from the flames.

"Harry!"

Harry whipped his head around at the sound of his name, trying to figure out where it came from and if it was actually there.

"Harry!"

There it was again. He pushed himself to his feet and rushed to the bars, forgetting all about the flames that surrounded him. "Help!" He screamed, his voice cracking.

"Where are you?"

"Over here!" He cried, and just for a second, the smoke cleared and he caught sight of a women looking at him. "River, please get me out!" The smoke came together again, and Harry cried out, but seconds later, River appeared just feet from the cage.

"Oh, Harry," she whispered.

"Please," he pleaded, "Let me out! I'll be good, I promise!"

River rushed to the cage, the fire clearing a path for her as she walked, and she reached through the bars and cradled Harry's small, soot covered face in her hands. "Shh, you are already good. Who put you in here?" She asked as she began to study the cage.

"Tom," Harry choked out. "He got mad."

River sighed. "Harry, I can't get you out." Harry's eyes widened and tears once again poured down his cheeks.

"No, don't leave me here! I can't breath and I'm scared!"

River grasped his hands tightly in her own. "I'm not going anywhere," she said, trying to calm him down. "But I can't get you out of here. Only you can."

"I can't!" Harry cried.

"You can!" River insisted. "This is your mind. You can do anything here." She would never know how similar her words were to Tom's. "Just close your eyes and imagine the bars disappearing."

Harry did as he was told, but his breathing was labored and it wasn't soon before he opened his eyes, fear etched on his face. "It's not working! Why isn't it working?"

"Calm down, Harry! Look at me - **only** at me!" Harry's green eyes locked on River's blue ones, and, ever so slowly, the rest of the world ebbed away. "Okay, now take a deep breath and let it out slowly." Harry did, and soon his breathing evened out. "Close your eyes," he heard River say, her voice sounding so far away. "And imagine the cage disappearing." In his mind, there were no cages, no fire; everything exactly the way it was when he first arrived here.

Harry kept his eyes closed and didn't open them until he felt a pair of arms wrap around him. He wrapped himself around River and didn't protest when she picked him up and started to walk away. His vision was blurry, but his eyes were focused on the hill that he had been trapped on. The cage was gone, and there was no impression of any fire ever having been there. His eyes started to droop shut, but they shot open when they heard a familiar voice.

"And who might you be?" Harry lifted his head out of the crook of River's neck to see Tom staring at the woman that was holding him.

"I would ask the same of you," River said, putting Harry down and stepping in front of him. "If I didn't already know the answer." River gripped her wand tightly as the other grown wizard chuckled.

"Of course you've heard of me, I'm the greatest wizard to ever grace our world," He gloated.

"Is that so Tom?" River asked, tilting her head. "If that was true then you wouldn't be here, now would you?"

Tom glowered and pulled his own wand out, his eyes darkening. "Don't call me that wretched name."

"Oh, I apologize, _Tom_ , but it's the only name I know you by."

He growled, causing Harry to whimper from behind River's legs. "You don't know who you're messing with, girl."

"Neither do you," River remarked. "And I think it's time for you to leave."

"I was thinking just the same thing about you." Tom said, smiling cruelly. "Soon enough, I will gain control of young Harry's body and I shall kill you, and everyone who stands against me."

"Not if I have any say in it." River and Tom raised their wands at the same time, but River got a spell off first. "Relinquo!" she shouted, her wand making an upwards slicing motion and shooting a bright purple beam that hit Tom squarely in his chest. He fell to the ground, screaming and clawing at his body.

"You will not get rid of me! I will return!"

"Fat chance." River deadpanned, but a scream from behind her caused her to whirl around and gasp.

Harry was writhing on the ground, black steam coming off his body in waves.

"If you want to get rid of me," Tom snarled out. "Then you'll have to get rid of him too!" River looked between both Harry and the, the, the _leech_ that was clinging to life in a place he didn't belong, and she froze. "What?" Tom mocked, even as another scream tore it's way out of his throat, closely followed by a shout from Harry. "Can't kill one little boy for the greater good? Pathetic."

River spun around and aimed her wand at the person on the ground. "Perdere augurium!" She whispered.

* * *

Gibbs and the others, watched with bated breath as a cloud of darkness slowly was pulled from Harry's head. The last tendril was almost severed when suddenly, Harry started to convulse and go pale, before beginning to scream. Gibbs made to rush forward but Ducky spun him around by his arm.

"Do not touch him, Jethro," he said before glancing over his shoulder. "Or her."

"She's killing him, Duck!" Gibbs growled out, trying to escape the doctor's hold, but a sharp slap to the back of his head made him freeze.

"I doubt that Ms. Dalton is doing any harm to our boy. You said you trusted her before, and you will trust her now. Or so help me I will duct tape you to a chair."

* * *

IN HARRY'S MIND

Harry stopped convulsing and Tom stopped screaming. "Incatena," River said, and silver chains immediately appeared and wrapped themselves around Tom. When she was sure that there was no way that he could get out, she dove to the ground, landing hard on her knees next to Harry. She gently shook the boy, but he refused to open his eyes. "I'm sorry, Harry, but you need to wake up," she whispered. "Ennervate."

Harry's eyes fluttered open, and he groaned weakly. "Shhh, sweetheart, it's alright," River said, running a hand through the four year old's hair. Harry sat up and grabbed onto the older women when he caught sight of Tom.

"I thought… I thought that you were going to make him go away," Harry whispered, clinging harder to River when Tom smiled at him.

"I was. I tried, Harry." River cast Tom a look full of loathing. "Something went wrong and so I need your help."

Harry looked up, his green eyes swirling. "How can I help?"

"Harry," River began. "We are in your mind."

"How?" Harry asked.

River looked around before leaning in. "Magic," she whispered conspiratorially, causing Harry to giggle. "So what I need you to do is close your eyes and think about where we are." Harry, once again closed his eyes. "You got that?" He nodded. "Okay, now I want you to find the place where it feels wrong." He cracked open an eye.

"What do you mean?"

"Most of this place," River said. "Feels really safe, because it is. It's inside you. But, if I'm right, there should be this one place where you're scared to go, because it doesn't make you feel safe." Harry nodded before closing his eyes.

In his mind, a picture formed, an exact replica of the place he was in right now. Suddenly, his view zoomed out, and he saw the entire area from a bird's eye view. There was the castle he saw earlier, along with the pond, the meadow, and the hill. In the distance he could see a forest and a mountain ridge. Zooming in, he concentrated on the mountains. He stood at the base of the third stone in the peak and recoiled. While most of the mountain was a light grey, foliage half way up and snow at the top. But, starting from the bottom and going about a fourth up the stone, the mountain was a dark black, the rock swirling with green and blue. Harry reached his hand out and gently laid a hand on it. His head flew back and suddenly pictures filled his head. A fuzzy picture of a women smiling down at him, a run down orphanage, a cave by the ocean, and hundreds of thousands of others. Learning, living, being in a grand castle. The silhouette of a huge snake. Dark ink on an arm in the shape of a skull.

And they just got darker and darker.

He stood over a cowering woman, laughing as she screamed. He spoke to a group of people, all wearing masks. He smiled as a girl with red hair stood protectively in front of a crib.

Harry jerked his hand away and his eyes shot open. His breaths came out in short gasps, and he was only barely aware of River rubbing soothing circles on his back.

It took him several minutes to calm down enough to be able to speak.

"I found the place," he whispered.

"Where is it?"

"I can bring us there." And then suddenly the scenery changed around them and all three of them were at the foot of the mountain. River stood up, pulling Harry up with her.

She turned towards Tom, and, even as he struggled against her, picked him up and pushed him into the mountain before turning to Harry.

"I'm going to need to do something to your mind. Will you let me?" Harry nodded, not really sure what it meant, but if it made the bad man go away then he didn't really care. River turned back to the mountain and faced her palm towards the stone. Slowly, the black was pulled from the mountain and formed into a small cube. Then a onyx black container appeared, and the cube was lowered into it, before the lid slammed shut and a padlock appeared, locking it shut.

Throughout this, Harry had felt something in his head shifting. His scar burned for a second but besides that, nothing hurt. By the end of it, his mind felt cleaner and clearer. He looked up at River.

"Cool," he breathed out a smile on his face.

River chuckled a bit, though her eyes were dark. "Let's get you out of her, Mr. Gibbs."

"Okay," said Harry, as he took the hand River offered to him.

* * *

Gibbs wasn't sure exactly how much time had passed since River had used legilimency on his son (whatever that was), only that too much time had passed. He hadn't moved since Ducky had freaked out on him, his eyes still glued to the bed his son was in. The others had panned out around the room; Kate and Abby were sitting next to Tony, who Gibbs was sure was feeling like crap - even though he was still making bad jokes. McGee and Ducky were sitting at another bed, sharing stories and shooting Gibbs concerned glances when they thought he wasn't looking.

Gibbs honestly didn't care what they were doing, though. He just wanted his boy to wake up. So when River's shot open and she took a deep breath, Gibbs thought that he could be forgiven for how fast he had raced to her side.

"What is it? Is he alright?"

River smiled. "He's fine." The _as much can be expected of someone who has plague_ was left of, but both knew that it was there.

"Then we isn't he waking up?" Gibbs asked frantically.

"He's exhausted! He just went through a mind battle, and know his magic is trying to catch up on the time it missed of healing him. He's just sleeping, Gibbs," she added, seeing how Gibbs hadn't calmed down at her previous words.

Gibbs let out a breath he was all too aware he had been holding, before he turned to his agents (forensic scientist and medical examiner).

"He should be fine."

* * *

Gibbs paced outside the room, his cup of coffee smashed within his grip. After River had used legilimency (which she later explained to be the entering of someone's mind - who knew?) she told everyone not to reveal what they say or heard today before she woke up the two doctors, who acted as though no time had passed. Doctors Brad and Emma had immediately kicked everyone out except for Tony and Harry because they needed to run tests.

That had been a five days ago.

Today, finally, was the day that both Tony and Harry were going to be released. Gibbs had taken off from work for the next two weeks to take care of Harry.

He was just about to go and get another coffee when the door behind him opened and he whirled around to see a pale looking Tony holding the hand of an equally pale Harry. Gibbs didn't even try to stop himself from calling out his boy's name, causing said child to look up, his green eyes wide.

"Daddy!" Harry screamed, running as fast as he could across the room - which wasn't fast, considering that he had to stop halfway across to catch his breath. As soon as he got within arms length, Gibbs immediately scooped him up, holding him tightly in his arms.

"Harry," he whispered, kissing the boys Raven hair.

Harry leaned back and rubbed Gibbs' wet face with his hands. "Daddy. why are you sad?" Gibbs choked out laugh, realizing how much he had missed hearing Harry's voice. "I'm not sad, bud."

Harry tilted his head. "Are they happy tears then?"

Gibbs cracked a smile. "Yeah, Harry. They're happy tears."

* * *

 **Two Weeks later**

Gibbs looked over at the man standing next to him in the elevator. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

Tony attempted to smile, but it came out as more of a grimace. "Never felt better."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Gibbs scoffed. "You look like crap."

"I missed you too, Boss," said Tony as he rolled his eyes.

"You've got another week of sick leave coming, Tony. You should take it."

Tony turned to look at his boss, letting a slightly insane expression flit across his face. "I was going crazy at home. Maybe I'm not a hundred percent, but you need me." Gibbs looked at him, unconvinced. "Okay, what about Kate and McGee? They're practically lost without me."

"Apparently they've gotten more work done in the last two weeks than in the whole year," Gibbs said.

Before Tony could reply, the elevator dinged and Gibbs walked out, making for the bullpen.

"Is that Tony?" McGee asked, peering at the notebook Kate had stretched across her lap. Harry sat by her feet, drawing in his own book as he leaned against her legs.

"No," Kate said, refusing to state the obvious.

McGee looked sceptical. "Are you sure? It really resembles-"

"Is there a reason you've been haunting my desk all week?" Kate said, cutting him off.

"You mean besides the fact that you are hogging Harry?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "He only got here this morning, okay? Give me the reason."

McGee sighed. "It just hasn't been the same without Tony here."

"I know what you mean," Kate said as she ran a hand through Harry's hair. "It's been… quiet."

Tim looked meaningfully at her. "You know, you can say that you miss him, too."

"I do miss him."

"You won't in about 10 seconds," Gibbs said as he strolled into the bullpen. Before the other agents could react, he reached over the desk, and plucked Harry from his spot on the floor, swinging him through the air, causing his giggles to fill the squad room. "How's my main man?"

"I'm fine, boss, thanks for asking," Tony said as he walked into the room.

Gibbs rolled his eyes before looking back down at his son. "What were you doing?"

"I was drawing with Aunt Kate!" Harry said, his eyes bright.

"Really?" Harry nodded eagerly. "Did you finish it?" Before Harry could explain how amazing his picture was, Gibbs' phone rang causing him to groan. He reached in his pocket before throwing the offending device to Kate. "Answer that. If it's anyone besides a new case hang up. I'm going to take Harry down to Abby."

McGee and Kate started to move around, leaving Tony in the dust/ "Maybe I did die."

"Feel that?"

"Feel what?"

Gibbs slapped the back of Tony's head, causing him to yelp. "You're still alive. Welcome back, DiNozzo!"

* * *

"Green-Eyes!" Abby shouted when he caught sight of Gibbs holding Harry. She held out her hands in the universal sign of 'let me hold 'em.' Gibbs complied and passed his con over to be hugged to death by their forensic scientist. "You scared me soo much, did you know that?" She said and she hugged him tighter.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled.

Abby pulled back. "Don't ever do something like that again, you hear?" Harry nodded, before wiggling to get down. Gibbs managed to plant a kiss on his son's cheek before he dashed off to mess with Abby's computers. "He's recovered nicely, don't you think?"

Gibbs snorted. "Not as much as I would like." He handed over a bag. "Inside is Harry's inhaler. If he starts having trouble breathing, make him use it."

Having plague had damaged Harry's lungs. The doctor's said that with time his lungs will mostly heal but it would be best to have an inhaler on them.

"Aye Aye, Captain!" Abby said, saluting her 'boss'.

Gibbs rolled his eyes, before casting a long look at his boy. "Take care of him, Abs, okay?"

"Always, Gibbs."

And with that Gibbs walked out the door, leaving his son alone for the first time since Harry had been released from the hospital.

* * *

Despite knowing better (which was still to be proven) Tony swore someone was out to get him. First with the plague and then with a bomb placed under a car. He had only barely avoided being blown to smithereens, and wouldn't that be something? Being blown up on his first day back to work. Tony was sure that there was some movie where something like this had happened, but at the moment, he couldn't bring himself to think of one.

As it was, Gibbs had ordered him to be checked out by Ducky, and so there he was, sitting on one of the tables meant for dead people. Harry had wondered in (how he had escaped Abby Tony didn't even want to know) towards the end of his checkup. Ducky poked just under his ribs and Tony groaned.

"Muscle soreness?" Ducky asked as he made Tony lift his arms above his head.

"Only when I move or breathe," Tony deadpanned. Ducky glared at him.

"Yes, clearly you haven't quite recovered from your bout with Y. pestis. You need a rest."

Tony shook his head, pushing off of the metal slab. "No, I need to get back to work, Ducky."

Harry stood up on the body examiner, **(~anyone know what those are called?~)** placed a hand on his hip and raised his finger. "Ducky said you need to rest. He's a doctor, and you're supposed to listen to doctors. So lay down and take a nap!"

Tony just smiled. "And what about you, little man? You were just as sick as me, shouldn't you be sleeping?"

Harry blushed, but didn't back down. "I wasn't the one who almost got blown up!" When he had first heard about the explosion, Harry had been worried, demanding to know if everyone was alright. Clearly, he had gotten over his fear and was not above using it to guilt Tony into sleeping.

Sadly, Tony was not impressed. "Nice try, Har." he held out his hand. "C'mon, we're gonna go and lay down in Abby's lab, I'm sure she has plenty of pillows."

"No," Harry said, somehow managing to jump off of the table and landing on his feet. "You will never catch me!" He ran from the room, and Tony sighed.

"How the kid has so much energy after almost dying, I will never know."

Ducky chortled. "Yes, well, he does have asthma so you better go find him before he over exerts himself and Gibbs kills us." Tony began to walk away but Ducky called him back. "I do mean it about resting, Anthony."

"Yeah, I know," Tony replied distractedly, trying to come up with a way to tell his boss that he lost his kid.

* * *

Harry swerved around a corner and finally had to stop, clutching at his chest. His breaths came out raggedly, and his vision swirled. Before he could fully panic, he felt hands fall on his shoulders.

"Breath," the voice said. "Focus on my voice and calm down."

"Can't," Harry wheezed out. "Asthma."

"Do you have your inhaler?" When Harry shook his head, the man cursed before reaching out and grabbing Harry's hands, placing them on his own chest. "Match my breathing, okay? When I breathe you do." Slowly Harry's breathing evened out and he could finally focus on the man in front of him, inclining his head slightly when he saw Director Thomas Morrow in front of him. "You good now, Harry?"

Harry nodded, letting out a quick breath. "Yes sir, thank you."

"Not a problem." The director tilted his head. "Walk with me, Mr. Gibbs?"

"Yes sir," Harry said and the pair began to make their way down the hall.

"Do you know who I am, Mr. Gibbs?"

Harry blushed. "Sir, you can just call me Harry," he mumbled out.

"Alright then," Morrow said. "Do you know who I am, Harry?"

"Yes sir. You are in charge of everyone at NCIS."

"To a certain extent, yes." The director stopped and kneeled down so that he was Harry's height. "Harry, do you like chess?"

"I've never played it, sir."

Morrow's eyes widened in exaggerated shock. "Why, we can't have that!"

15 minutes later, the two were in the director's office, Harry had been told how to play, and they had the pieces set up. 30 minutes after that, Morrow had beaten Harry rather spectacularly, although there were times that if Harry had a bit more experience he could have beaten the much older man.

"Don't be too upset - I've been playing longer than your dad's been alive." Seeing Harry's down trodden face, Morrow smiled. "How about you take this board and practice, and then when you think you've gotten good enough, then you can call a rematch?"

Harry's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Really. Think of it as a 'get well soon', gift."

"Thanks!" Harry said, a huge grin stretched across his face.

Morrow looked at his watch and nodded to himself. "I think it's time we got you back to you minders, they're probably pulling their hair out looking for you."

Harry blushed. "Yes sir."

* * *

Tony rushed (as fast as he could) into Abby's lab. "Hey, little lady!" Abby swung around and pulled him into a hug.

"Tony!" Before she could make him feel guilty for scaring her, Tony broke in.

"Abby, have you seen Harry?"

"Green eyes?" Abby asked, tilting her head. "He came in about five minutes before you with the director in tow."

Tony's eyes widened. "Our director? Big, grumpy man, never been a fan of Harry's?"

"Mm hmm," Abby said, beckoning for him to follow her. "The pair waltzed in here like they were best friends. The director patted Harry on his head and left. He was even smiling."

"And you sure that Harry was returned to us in one piece?"

"Look for yourself," Abby said, pointing forwards.

Harry was sitting on a spinning chair, slowly swirling around as he drew in his book, a large book sitting next to him. Tony turned to look back at the forensic scientist. "This is weird."

"Tell me about it."

Suddenly, Abby's phone rang and she ran to her desk to answer it. Tony followed after glancing one more time at Harry. Abby's face was confused when she hung up.

"The FBI's here, Tony." Tony opened his mouth to reply but was cut off.

"The FBI?" The two agents swung around to see Harry standing in front of them, an innocent look on his face. "Is Toby here?" Tony and Abby couldn't help but grinning at the nickname Harry had given Tobias Fornell, an FBI agent pretty high up at the bureau. The two had met during one of the cases NCIS and FBI had to coordinate on and, surprisingly, Fornell adored Harry and vice versa.

"I don't know if he's here, bud," Tony said, running a hand through his hair. "If he is, I'll make sure to send him down to see you."

Harry sighed. "Can't I just come up with you?"

Tony cast Abby a quick look and she discreetly shook her head - it must be important. "Sorry, Har, not this time."

Harry pouted, but before he could ask why, Abby swung him up into her arms. "While they're doing boring stuff, green-eyes, we can have a drawing contest down here!" Harry scrunched up his nose.

"Can we play chess instead?" Tony decided that this was a good time to sneak out. He paused though at the door when he heard Abby ask why he wanted to play chess instead of drawing, something he loved to do. "Because I have to beat Thomas!"

Tony shook his head as he got into the elevator. Today was just weird.

* * *

"What's going on?" Tony asked as he walked into the bullpen. A large group of FBI agents were taking up most of the room.

"Ari Haswari is back in country," Fornell said.

McGee, Tony, and Kate's heads swung to stare at the FBI agent. "You let that psycho back in the States without telling us?!" Kate exclaimed, taking a few steps forward.

"He was supposed to be helping us uncover an Al Qaeda cell in the D.C. area.," Fornell said defensively.

Tony's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean "supposed to", Fornell?"

The agent sighed, running a hand down his face. "We now think he's here for more personal reasons." A beat passed with no one saying anything. "He's planning on killing Gibbs."

"Gibbs can handle him, right?" McGee asked as he exchanged uncertain looks with his team.

"And Harry," Fornell added disparagingly.

"Shit."

* * *

Gibbs closed the door to the bakery, a pastry box in his hand, when suddenly the door rang and he answered it. "Washington is such a lovely city this time of year. Don't you agree, Special Agent Gibbs?" It took him several precious seconds to recognize the voice. "Perfect for kids to play in, yes?"

"Ari," Gibbs growled out, his fingers tightening against the cardboard box.

"How is young Harry doing? A little birdy told me that he had a run in with plague a few weeks ago. Where on earth would he come in contact with something like that?"

"Cut the crap, Haswari," Gibbs said as he looked at his surroundings. "What do you want?"

Ari tsked into the phone. "Come, now Gibbs. Let's talk a bit about Harry, yes? His birthday is in a few months, right? July?" He paused. "I think that my gift to him will be the bomb."

"You get near him and I will slit your throat."

Ari chuckled darkly, his voice resonating in Gibbs' ear. "Alright, Gibbs, I'll throw you a bone." Gibbs waited for Ari to continue. "I have been told to infiltrate an Al Qaeda cell that is stationed here in D.C."

"What does that have to do with me? Or my son?" Gibbs asked.

"Gibbs, Gibbs, Gibbs, you must learn to stop interrupting people. To prove my loyalty to the cell, I have been told to kill you - and the one you hold most dear - and we all know who that is."

Gibbs' blood ran cold but his voice was steady as he said, "Stay away from him."

"You can stop it, you know. Find and eliminate the cell before my deadline and you live."

"And if I can't find them all?" Gibbs asked, his voice full of trepidation.

"I have the utmost faith in you, Gibbs. But if you were to fail, then I would have to follow orders? Starting with Harry." The line went dead as Ari hung up.

Gibbs slipped the phone into his pocket and simply stood on the sidewalk, silently seething. He'd be damned if this bastard got anywhere near Harry.

* * *

"Please call me back," Tony said into the phone, his voice desperate, before turning to his teammates. "That's twenty messages I left. We should look for him, McGee."

"Look for who?" The three agents whirled around to see Gibbs walk into the bullpen, a pink box in his hand.

"We've been calling you for the last hour, Boss," Tony said.

"Really? Well, I was getting Harry an eclair. He loves them." Gibbs stopped at the stairs leading down to Abby's lab. "You can explain to me what you know on the way down."

* * *

"Is it me or did he take the whole Ari situation really well?" McGee asked as he, Kate and Tony watched him press a kiss to Harry's forehead.

"That's because he's looking forward to it," Tony said.

"Looking forward to what?"

"Finally getting to kill him."

* * *

 **(SOME TIME LATER - NOT SURE THE EXACT AMOUNT; SUE ME)**

"I'm out," Gibbs said, checking his gun. He and his team had managed to track down the cell and the rocket that was going to be used to kill hundred of Navy families. McGee had hacked into the rocket's main frame and crashed it into the ocean. Kate, Tony, and Gibbs were on the roof when they were fired upon. They had managed to kill them all but no agent liked being in an exposed position with no ammo.

"Me, too," Kate said before catching sight of a gun poking out of a large container. "Shooter!" She shouted diving in front of Gibbs, a bullet lodging in her chest and sending her hard down on the pavement. Tony shot at the shooter, killing him, before running with Gibbs to Kate's side.

"Kate?" Tony asked frantically. Gibbs unzipped her jacket and both let out a sigh of relief upon seeing that the bullet had lodged itself in her vest. "Are you okay?"

"Ow! I just got shot at point blank range, DiNozzo. What do you think?" Kate groaned as Gibbs pulled her to her feet.

"You're not going to be going to Pilates class tomorrow?" Tony joked, the relief at her not being dead present in his voice.

"Protection detail is over," Gibbs said, formerly releasing her of guarding him, causing his agents to laugh a bit.

"You did good," Tony said, patting her lightly on her shoulder.

"For once, DiNozzo is right," Gibbs said.

"Wow," Kate said, a smile on her face. "I thought I'd die before I ever-" Suddenly, a gunshot sounded, and Kate fell to the ground, blood gushing from her chest.

Gibbs looked up at the building in the distance and caught sight of a flash of silver and a retreating figure. "Ari!" He shouted.

Gibbs dropped down to his knees next to his fallen agent, pressing a hand hard against her shoulder in an attempt to stop the blood that was gushing from her wound. "Kate, listen to me!" he said, watching as her eyes fluttered. "Do not close your eyes. Do you hear me, Kate! I said don't-" Gibbs cut himself off when he saw that despite her attempts to keep them open, Kate's eyelids slid down. "Damn it, Kate! Tony call a chopper!"

"Boss, her shoulder…" Tony murmured out.

"Yes Tony, she was shot. And if you don't do as I say, she's going to die."

* * *

Gibbs sat in a plastic hospital chair, his hands and clothes covered in Kate's blood. She had taken two bullets for him that day, and god damn it, he was going to kill Ari.

With his own hands if he had to.

No one hurt his family.

* * *

 **(NEW EPISODE ~ WHEEEEEE… I'm sorry, just ignore me…I'll be leaving now)**

Ziva calmed herself before opening the door to her car. She had a clear view of the NCIS building from her position at the visitor's car parking at the Navy Yard. She had heard from her father upon landing in Washington that NCIS agent Kate Todd had been killed and Ari Haswari was the only suspect. Her job was now to stop one pissed off team leader, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs from killing her own brother. Although she knew her brother would not have tried to kill the NCIS agent, deep down she was worried.

Ari's behavior for the past months had been odd to say the least. He had been acting strange and avoided their father at every turn. Even his current assignment has been dictated over conference by her. She had chalked it all up to being deep undercover as Hamas operative, but now she was not so sure. Walking in, she forced herself push down those thoughts. He was her brother, he wouldn't do anything like this.

Just as she was about to get out of the elevator, her cell rang. Quickly grabbing it, she answered.

"Ziva," a voice said from the other side.

"Ari," she replied in english before switching to hebrew, talking as she walked towards the bullpen, "Why are you calling me, brother? I am in the building. Once they know who I am they are sure to at least try and track my calls."

"Ah, but they don't know who you are yet, do they, Ziva?" Ari said, his voice thick.

"Was there a reason you were calling, Ari?"

"Catching up. Making sure that we are on the same page."

"We both know that you're innocent," Ziva said, stopping just outside the bullpen. "I will prove it to them, Ari, even if they don't want to believe me at first."

"I knew that I could count on you," Ari said, his voice scratchy through the receiver. "We will talk soon." Ziva ended the call and sighed as she slipped her phone back into one of her many pockets.

"Why wouldn't they believe that he was innocent if you told them?" A voice sounded from behind her, causing her to spin around, her hand automatically going for her gun. Sitting on top of the desk furthest on the left from where she was, was a young boy, no older than five. She could understand why she had missed him when she had glanced over the room; the way he was sitting and given the fact that he had probably been hunched over the art pad that lay spread out across his lap made him much smaller than any adult she would have been looking for.

"You could understand what I was saying?" Ziva asked, her expression guarded. How much did he know? While she would never hurt a child - it was the worst thing in her mind - she did need to figure out how much he knew and what he would tell others.

"Not everything," he said, not looking up from what he as drawing. "Just bits and pieces; what is greek or latin?"

Ziva shook her head but then realized that he couldn't see her. "No, it was hebrew."

"Oh. Well there were a lot of greek and latin words in what you said; it's why I could understand you. I'm learning those languages."

"Really?" Ziva asked. "That's impressive."

"Thank you," the boy said. "But you never answered me: Why wouldn't they believe that he was innocent if you told them he was?"

Ziva realized that this boy was smarter than he looked and chose her words carefully. "My brother is a good man, but a lot of people here think that he did something really bad and so they want to arrest him. I'm here to stop them."

"Oh. What did they think he did?"

Ziva winced slightly. "It's nothing."

"My daddy will believe you if you talked to him."

"Would he really?' Ziva asked. "And who might your father be?"

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs. He works here. I'm his son, Harry."

What were the chances that this was the child of the guy who wanted to kill her brother? "Hello, Harry. It's nice to meet you. My name is Ziva." She was standing a couple feet away from him, so she extended her hand.

Finally, the boy, Harry, looked up from his picture and locked his eyes on hers. For a moment, she panicked, kids did cry when encountering strange people and Ziva knew that she probably looked a bit different than what he was used to, given her Islamic features. He seemed to be taking in everything about her, as if he could see down to her very soul, and she was mesmerized by his clear emerald green eyes. She then looked at the the scar that was outlined in his forehead and traced over the lightning bolt shape with her eyes.

Ziva would never admit that she startled a bit when a small hand wrapped around hers and shook it. "It is very nice to meet you, Ziva," Harry said before looking back down at his sketchpad. Before she could say anything else, a voice cut her off.

"The vending machines had chips and water, Har." A handsome man walked into the bullpen, his arms laden down with small bags of chips and bottles of water. When he caught sight of her, his pace quickened and he put down the foodstuff next to Harry before standing in front of him, not so subtly hiding him from her. "Who are you, and how may I help you?"

"That's Ziva," Harry piped up, and Ziva could just see him opening up one of the bags of chips. "She says her brother is innocent and that she doesn't think that you will believe her."

"Is that so?" Tony asked, and Harry hummed in agreement. "Why don't the two of us come over and chat, Ms. Ziva." Tony and Ziva walked over to a desk on the opposite side of the bullpen, leaving a curious Harry in their wake. "Who are you and why are you here?" Tony asked.

"My name is Ziva David, Mossad, and I am here to keep Special Agent Gibbs from killing Ari Haswari."

Tony sighed, his voice full of mock regret. "Well, I would love to help you, but I want the bastard dead just as much as he does."

* * *

 **(ANOTHER TIME SKIP-YOU MUST ALL HATE ME! I'M SORRRRY)**

"A sniper's brass is like signing your signature," Gibbs said, trying to convince Ziva of her brother's guilt. "That's why a sniper always polices his brass. Lapua .308 casing. Boat tail. Moly-coated full metal jacket bullet."

Ziva tilted her head. "That's what you shot as a Marine sniper. At Mossad, we use Sierra 6.5 hollow points."

"How do you know what I shot, Miss David?" Gibbs asked, his face smoothing into an unreadable mask."

"She profiled you for Ari," Director Jennifer Shepard said. Jenny had taken over the job of Director of NCIS just a few days when the old director, Thomas Morrow, left to be in charge of homeland security.

"Not just the boss," Tony said, thinking back to a conversation where Ziva had profiled him and it had been completely accurate. "That's how you knew where I was born and went to school."

Ziva just shrugged. "Ari's missions involved NCIS. As his controller, of course, I did dossiers on everyone he might interact with."

Gibbs eyes darkened slightly. "Give me a minute alone with Ms. David, please." He gripped her wrist loosely and led her over to a secluded corner. "You found out about my wife and my daughter?"

"Yes," she paused, her eyes filling with sympathy. "I'm sorry."

"Then we know why Ari is shooting at women and my son, then, don't we?"

Z"If he wanted you to know he is the sniper, why didn't he use your rifle- an M-40?" Ziva asked, her voice slightly pleading.

"The Bravo 51 he fired is called a 'Kate'."

Ziva sighed shaking her head. :I still don't believe Ari is the sniper. But what you have said should be investigated."

"Well, when the media gets wind of this, it's going to create a furor."

"Are you threatening to go to the media?"

"No, not me," Gibbs said, raising his hands to show his innocence in the matter. "This can stay between Mossad and NCIS."

"In exchange for what? Setting up Ari for you to kill?" Ziva asked, her voice slightly hostile.

"No. Setting me up for Ari. And if I'm wrong about this, he won't show up."

"And if you're right?"

"Then I'm counting on you to back me up."

* * *

Gibbs stared at the man standing across from him, feeling nothing but contempt for the man, despite his 'tragic' upbringing. Ari had Gibb's own gun pointed at him, the tip never straying far from his head.

"When Ziva told me you were placing flowers on the roof where Caitlin died, I couldn't believe it. Such a romantic touch. Almost too good to pass up." He paused before smiling. "Almost."

"Then why did you?"

"I need you to commit suicide with your own after you're dead, I will go get sweet, little Harry from his bedroom upstairs, bring him down here and show him your dead body. If he falls apart then I'll shoot him through the head and make it look like a murder/suicide. But if he doesn't show any emotion then I might just have to take him and train him to be just like me. Setting fire to this house should convince the others that you both died accidentally." Gibbs eyes widened a fraction of an inch before going back to normal, but Ari caught it. "You never did give me enough credit in our game. I knew it was a trap before Ziva told me you asked her to cover you. You'd never trust Ziva. And you need to kill me, to taste the sweetness of revenge."

"I've killed enough men in my life, Ari. It's going to be just as sweet watching you die."

Ari raised the rifle. "Sorry to spoil your-" He was cut off when a bullet went right through the back of his head, killing him instantly. Gibbs looked up and saw Ziva walking slowly down the stairs, not taking her eyes off of of the dead form of her brother. Gibbs stood up and walked to her side.

"You did good," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her forehead and leaving her in the basement. He needed to go and pick up Harry from headquarters.

* * *

Gibbs stood in front of Jenny's desk. "You wished to see me, director?"

"Yes," Jenny stood up. "Ari is dead?"

Gibbs nodded. "Yes. Ziva is escorting his body back home as we speak."

Jenny nodded. "What I am about to tell you is not to leave this room."

"What about my team?"

"Your team is being informed on this very same matter, just in a different room."

Gibbs cocked his head. "What's this about Jen?"

"Special Agent Caitlin Todd is alive."

Gibbs prided himself on being a man that was hard to surprise or shock. But those six words cause him to stumble back, his confusion plain on his face. "That's not possible."

"Why do you think that we wouldn't let Ducky perform the autopsy?" Jenny asked, taking a few steps closer to Gibbs.

"It wasn't because he was too close to the body," Gibbs whispered. "It's because there was no body."

"Exactly." Jenny said.

"But, the doctor's. They said that with the amount of blood she lost she could never have survived! I saw the blood, Jen!" he exclaimed.

"She did live, Jethro. Since we didn't know who tried to kill her, she was put in Witness Protection **(or would it be protective custody?)**.

"Is she coming back now that Ari is dead?" Gibbs asked, trying to wrap his head around this.

"I think that you should ask her yourself." The director grabbed Gibbs' arm and pulled him from the office and to a new room. His team was already there, including Ducky and Abby, and he could see them all embracing Kate. Abby had tears streaming down her face, Ducky was too shocked to tell any stories, and Tony and McGee were staring at Kate in shock.

Gibbs found himself walking forward, pulling the agent he thought to be dead, _because of him_ , into a tight hug, instantly silencing the room. He stepped back and looked into her eyes.

"Are you coming back?"

Kate winced. "No, Gibbs, I'm not."

They others immediately started talking over one another, exclaiming how she must stay and how much they would miss her if she left. Gibbs slapped the back of Tony's and McGee's head to get them to shut up.

"Let her talk," he commanded.

Kate looked at him gratefully. "I can't come back right now - I need to cope with being shot. Besides, I can't even shoot anymore - the bullet went right through a muscle and lodged itself there, damaging the muscle for who knows how long. Director Shepard has offered to let me keep the fake identity they gave me while in protective custody and I took her up on it. I'm going to stay wit my family for a few weeks but then I will probably travel a bit. Who knows what you can do when you aren't fighting for your life?" The room was silent until Abby suddenly let out a laugh and pulled Kate into a hug, minding the arm that was in a sling.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me, Kate," she said, her voice wet from her tears. "You go and have fun - and you better be canceling that funeral of yours. I don't want to ever be invited to another one so you better take care!" Abby mock glared at her, causing Kate and the others to laugh, no matter how hard it was to force it out.

Gibbs let the others have time with Kate before approaching her again. "When are you saying goodbye to Harry?" he asked, narrowing his eyes when she winced. "Kate…"

"I can't! I know if I go to say goodbye he will convince me to stay, and I really can not be here right now!" Gibbs sighed.

"Is he at least going to get to know you're not dead?" Kate nodded before grabbing a box that had been hidden at her feet.

"Give him these, will you?" Gibbs looked down and saw a dozen thick sketch pads in the cardboard box. "They were mine. Inside them are a bunch of letter and pictures. The last one explains why I am leaving and that I'm not, you know, dead. Just in case you forget to tell him."

Gibbs chuckled. "We're really going to miss you, Kate."

"I'm going to miss you guys, too."

* * *

Remus Lupin walked up to the counter, a letter in his hand addressed to the Dursleys. He approached the person in the mail assistance line.

"Excuse me." The elderly lady looked up. "One of my friends moved lately and forgot to give me their address. Their numbers have been changed, too. Would you mind looking their new address up for me?"

"Of course, sweat pea. What are their names?"

"Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley."

Five minutes later, the werewolf walked out of the postal office with a sticky note that had the Dursley's new address on it. Looking down at the small piece of paper that was clenched in his hand, Remus cleared his mind and thought of the space right outside of the address.

1247 Hutable Lane, France

'Don't worry, Harry,' he thought. 'I'm coming'.

* * *

 **HUZZAH! THE CHAPTER IS FINISHED! This was such a hard chapter to write.**

 **Okay... PLEASE DON'T HATE ME FOR NOT UPDATING FOR OVER FIVE MONTHS! I lost my muse but I found it so now we're good! :)**

 **I hope that I never wait so long to update ever again.**

 **Okay so as an apology for not updating for such a long time, here is and extra long chapter! It's almost 18,000 words! Whew!**

 **Now to the sirius matters (pun TOTALLY intended)**

 **If you didn't read the author's note at the beginning you can either go back and read it or completely ignore what I'm writing down here; I'm sure most of you do!**

 **But please review and put the pairing you want (from the ones at the top) You can offer a new pairing, but only if the person isn't already planned to be in a relationship. I'm sorry, but you can't change the six - Neville, Ron, Harry, Hermione, Ginny and Luna. They can't have pairings besides someone that's one of the six. PLS no incest or slash for those characters - anyone else is free game okay? Just tell me what you want and I will see what I can do.**

 **Next order of business:**

 **Should Harry's phobia be:**

 **A. Closed spaces (he's claustrophobic)**

 **B. Heights (terrified of heights)**

 **C. Fire (terrified of fire)**

 **This will be an ongoing poll, partly because I'm not sure when I will have his phobia manifest.**

 **Um let's see...**

 **If there is any particular scenes/ideas any or you wonderful people have, either review or PM me - and if it fits in the tentative storyline I have then I would love to incorporate your idea!**

 **Last thing:**

 **Is there anything that you guys really want Harry to learn about magic before he goes to Hogwarts? I have a tentative schedule planned out for when he's at DCSW but there needs to be MOREEEEE.**

 **Any ideas?**

 **Love y'all so much and thanks for putting up with my ramblings! 33333333333  
**

 **TTFN!**

 **MY LAST WORDS SHALL BE: NITWIT BLUBBER ODDMENT TWEAK**


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